Graduate Institute alumnus Hernando de Soto has been making headlines in India throughout July. The Indian Government, led by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, has been consulting Mr de Soto as part of their efforts to make the country's economy more inclusive and to reduce slums. The prime minister has also reportedly made Mr de Soto’s books “The Mystery of Capital” and “The Other Path” assigned reading for his cabinet members.

Hernando de Soto is no stranger to this type of work. He is well known for his theories on the poorest sections of society that are excluded from the main economy and his efforts to help governments furnish people in the informal sector with property rights other legal recognition. To date, Mr de Soto has been invited by the heads of 30 countries to carry out programmes to this end.

Born in Peru in 1941, Hernando de Soto obtained a degree in international relations from the Graduate Institute in 1967. He is President of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Lima, which focuses on designing and implementing capital formation programmes to empower the poor in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and former Soviet Nations. The organisation has been widely credited for being a catalyst for positive economic reforms in Peru and elsewhere. He also co-chairs the Commission on Legal Empowerment for the Poor with former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Time magazine called Mr de Soto one of the top five Latin American innovators of the 20th Century and one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Former United Nations Secretary-General and Graduate Institute alumnus Kofi Annan has praised Mr de Soto’s work as have three former presidents of the United States.