The Code of Capital
Katharina Pistor explains how capital is created behind closed doors in the offices of private attorneys, and why this little-known fact is one of the biggest reasons for the widening wealth gap between the holders of capital and everybody else.
One of the Financial Times' Best Books of 2019: Economics
One of Business Insider's Richard Feloni's best books of 2019 on how we can rethink today's capitalism and improve the economy
New Book for Fall 2025
The Law of Capitalism & How to Transform It
Capitalism seems unstoppable. Laws and regulations that are meant to contain its excesses can slow its expansion but are unable to contain it. How is it that a system that relies extensively on the law to code assets as capital is so resistant to legal constraints is the big question this book addresses.
Katharina Pistor
Katharina Pistor is a professor at Columbia Law School, where she teaches corporate law, law and finance, and law and development. She is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg and the European Academies of Science and the Club of Rome. Her most recent book is “The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality” (2019).