asset buildinbg

I want to flag today's global launch of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor's timely and important report, "Making the Law Work for Everyone." Co-chairs Madeleine Albright and Hernando de Soto briefly discussed the Commission's findings and this report this morning at a press conference at the United Nations as well as in their recent Time op-ed. As eloquently as they both discussed the foundations and findings of the report in a few short minutes, the full report is brilliant, powerful and well worth the read for anyone in the asset-building community.

The rise of an assets perspective is a relatively recent phenomenon. And like any phenomenon, to understand what it is you need to describe where it came from. Researchers and scientists often go to great lengths to find the baseline.

So, what's the assets baseline? There are two ways to look at this question. One is to survey the landscape of social policy and another is to describe the current role assets play in people's lives.