Property rights key to alleviating poverty: economist

Rio de Janeiro

WHEN it comes to alleviating poverty and allowing people to live up to their potential, prize-winning Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto divides the world into two groups: the ones who have defined property rights and those who do not.

About two billion people have full rights to the property they live in and the land they farm, according to the director of the Lima-based Institute for Liberty and Democracy.