"This is law and economics at its best. Benito Arruñada’s brilliant book greatly advances our understanding of how law and legal institutions affect the possibilities for trade. Very unusually, it also demonstrates how the needs of transacting parties and the interests of those who serve them profoundly shape a wide range of institutions from contract enforcement to title registries."

Henry E. Smith, Harvard Law School

"With Institutional Foundations of Impersonal Exchange, Benito Arruñada fills an important gap in the literature on institutions and economic growth. He recognizes the importance of impersonal exchange for growth, but also understands there are trade-offs in developing the institutional framework for such exchange. This book is a ’must read’ for anyone who wants to understand the full range of rules governing property rights protection, enforcement, and exchange."

P.J. Hill, Wheaton College

"Benito Arruñada has produced a masterly analysis informed by sound economic and legal theory. It deals with a very real-world problem: the issue of how best to provide security to participants in transactions in impersonal contexts. His focus on impersonality clarifies the fundamentals of a long-running debate in the world of development over the priority to be given to formalization of land rights. Registration, his analysis suggests, is properly seen as a response to the needs of impersonal markets in land, not a magic wand for creating them."
 

John W. Bruce, Land and Development Solutions International, Inc.