I'm in the midst of reading DeSoto's treatise on capitalism. And it's a fascinating read, to know that the key to the whole world economy is not free trade, but capital that is allowing economies to transform themselves.

What exactly is "Title Insurance?" I refinanced my house and saw this fee on the closing, and then I thought it was kind of unnecessary, thinking "of course I have clear title to my house, I owned it before, and I still own it now, what's there to guarantee?"

But then I realized it was the probably the most important thing there. That's the insurance that ensures that you actually have title to the property. Somthing so assumed in the United States, that it's but a formality. Of course everyone assumes you can buy a house and have title to land

But I was mentioning it to a friend who's moving overseas, and it's not immediatley obvious how much it's ingrained into our rule of law. We take property rights for granted. For example, citizens from the United States can't own property in Mexico, yet extra-legally people do.

Purchasing a condominimum in Shanghai, doesn't seem to be a strange concept for me. Although I wonder about the established procedures for doing it, given that standard property titles for the middle class only existed five years ago.

Although I have a huge mortgage, I do have title to my house.