THE DEATH OF A TUNISIAN BUSINESSMAN WHO HAD NO PROPERTY RIGHTS. Hernando de Soto is a Peruvian economist who campaigns for the importance of property rights and argues that the lack of a title system for property prevents economic development. Here is an article in which he recounts what he thinks led to the suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi, which triggered the Arab Spring.
Each day Bouazizi bought fruit and vegetables from the wholesale market to sell from his street-side cart.The morning of the suicide, “Bouazizi got into a tussle with town inspectors who accused him of failing to pay a fine for some arbitrary infraction. They seized two crates of pears, one crate of bananas, three crates of apples, and his electronic scale — worth some $225, the entire capital of his business.” An hour later, Bouazizi set himself on fire.
De Soto argues that about half of the entire Tunisian workforce is employed by small enterprises like Bouazizi’s, “run by Tunisians with no legal identity, no legal address, and no legal right to their shack or market stall. Without legal documents, their ability to make the most of their assets is limited, and they live in constant fear of being evicted or harassed by local officials.”
De Soto details the legal barriers that Bouazizi faced because he had no property rights. He says that at least 35 other “extralegal businessmen” in the Middle East and North Africa set fire to themselves in the 53 days after Bouazizi killed himself.