Capital Projects

What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories.

Prince Roland comes home from the war to bury his father and sees his sister on the throne. He sneaks out to his favorite tavern, the place where he kissed a man for the first time and the place where he used to carouse with the lover he buried on a battlefield. Roland expects to flirt with a few strangers for old time’s sake. He does not expect to find a fascinating scholar from out of town - a lonely young man with beautiful eyes and an obvious longing to be touched, buried beneath a prickly demeanor. Their unexpected chemistry makes him feel alive for the first time in months.

Early in the 21st century, a quiet revolution occurred. For the first time, the major developed economies began to invest more in intangible assets, like design, branding, R&D, or software, than in tangible assets, like machinery, buildings, and computers. For all sorts of businesses, from tech firms and pharma companies to coffee shops and gyms, the ability to deploy assets that one can neither see nor touch is increasingly the main source of long-term success.

From world-renowned economist Paul Collier, a candid diagnosis of the failures of capitalism and a pragmatic and realistic vision for how we can repair it. Deep new rifts are tearing apart the fabric of the United States and other Western societies: thriving cities versus rural counties, the...

From the poisoned rivers, barren wells, and clear-cut forests, to the hundreds of thousands of farmers who have committed suicide to escape punishing debt, to the hundreds of millions of people who live on less than two dollars a day, there are ghosts nearly everywhere you look in India. India is a nation of 1.2 billion, but the country's 100 richest people own assets equivalent to one-fourth of India’s gross domestic product.

Planning for your financial future doesn't have to be some big scary process that too quickly becomes over-complicated and leaves you feeling stressed. Indeed, it can, and should, be the exact opposite. Are you ready to break free from that boring nine-to-five lifestyle and truly invest your energy into something that could make you millions?