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
Katharina Pistor explores how Western legal systems are underpinning capitalism by empowering individuals against society and treat nature as an infinite resource to be deployed for financial gain, Katharina Pistor considers how changes to the legal status quo and its normative foundations can help create a more just system to succeed capitalism.
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).