Political Economic Resource Center

PERC-Political Economic Resource Center is our valuable collection of books, audio-visuals and other resource materials about political and economic issues. As an attempt to provide general public with access to learning materials regarding political-economic issues, Samriddhi has collected over 400 related books, journals, souvenirs, magazines, reports, theses, seminar papers, newsletters etc as well as audio-visuals. All of these items are accessible to all interested persons free of charge.

Open for all from Sunday to Friday, 11:00 am to 5:00 pm

Recommended Readings

Armchair Economist by Steven E. Landsburg’s

जनाथन गलिबलका साहसिक कार्यहरु ।

Bureaucracy by Ludwig Von Mises

The Choice by Russell Roberts

Waging the war of ideas by John M. Olin

How the West Grew Rich by Nathan Rosenberg and L.E. Birdzell

The Law by Frederic Bastiat

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt

Freakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner

Common Sense Economics by James Gwartney, Richard L. Stroup, Dwight Lee

James Gwartney, Richard L. Stroup, and Dwight R. Lee are three of the most prominent economists today, and in Common Sense Economics they show us why economic understanding is an essential ingredient for life in today's society, a key element that empowers those who possess it to better take charge of their own lives and their own responsibilities to their society. In clear, powerful language free of any hint of jargon or obscurity, they illuminate the basic principles of supply and demand, private ownership, trade, and more. In a world where free trade, taxes, and government spending are issues everyone needs to understand, Common Sense Economics is a lucid, simple explanation of how and why our economy and our world work the way they do, and how and why individuals and nations prosper. 

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

The Fountainhead is a bestselling 1943 novel by Ayn Rand. It was Rand's first major literary success and its royalties and movie rights brought her fame and financial security. More than 5 million copies of the book have been sold worldwide and the work has been translated in several languages.

 The Fountainhead's protagonist, Howard Roark, is an individualistic young architect who chooses to struggle in obscurity rather than compromise his artistic and personal vision. The book follows his battle to practice what the public sees as modern architecture, which he believes to be superior, despite an establishment centered on tradition-worship. How others in the novel relate to Roark demonstrates Rand's various archetypes of human character, all of which are variants between Roark, the author's ideal man of independent-mindedness and integrity, and what she described as the "second-handers." The complex relationships between Roark and the various kinds of individuals who assist or hinder his progress, or both, allow the novel to be at once a romantic drama and a philosophical work. By Rand's own admission, Roark is the embodiment of the human spirit and his struggle represents the triumph of individualism over collectivism.

In Defense of Global Capitalism by Johan Norberg

In Defense of Global Capitalism is a book by Swedish writer Johan Norberg promoting economic globalization and free trade. The book was originally published in May 2001 by the Swedish think tank Timbro. Since then, a number of translations into other languages have followed.

In the book, Norberg examines the arguments put forward by the anti-globalization movement. According to Norberg, "the diffusion of capitalism in the last decades has lowered poverty rates and created opportunities for individuals all over the world. Living standards and life expectancy has risen fast in most places. World hunger, infant mortality and inequality have diminished. This is because of an economic and technological development that is the result of free market policies. The poor countries that have liberalized their economies have shown impressive results, while those that have not are stuck in deep misery. Therefore, we need more capitalism and globalization if we want a better world, not less".

Liberty and Learning by Milton Friedman

Fifty years ago, Milton Friedman had the ground-breaking idea to improve public education with school vouchers. By separating government financing of education from government administration of schools, Friedman argued, parents at all income levels would have the freedom to choose the schools their children attend. Liberty & Learning is a collection of essays from the nation's top education experts evaluating the progress of Friedman's innovative idea and reflecting on its merits in the 21st century. The book also contains a special prologue and epilogue by Milton Friedman himself. The contributors to this volume take a variety of approaches to Friedman's voucher idea. All of them assess the merit of Friedman's plan through an energetic, contemporary perspective; though some authors take a theoretical position, while others employ a very pragmatic approach.

Foreign Aid and Politics in Nepal: A Case Study by Eugene Bramer

First published in 1965, this study of foreign aid has now become a recognized classic on the subject. When the author began his research, Nepal was receiving assistance from an extraordinarily large number of countries and organizations. Donor interest in Nepal in those initial years was driven mainly by the fact that the country occupied a strategic position as a frontline state against communist China. But, as the author found out, there were good reasons to doubt the widely accepted assumption that all underdeveloped countries are being swept by a ‘revolution of rising expectations’. He also reached the startling conclusion that on balance the impact of foreign aid his probably harmed rather than furthered Nepal’s long-range prospects for economic growth and political stability. This was due in large part to the equivocal nature of the aid projects themselves, which intended to contribute to the country’s economic development but were also designed to advance the political interests of the sponsors.

The Mystery of Capital by Hernando Desoto

A provocative and revolutionary analysis of the nature of capital, the ineffectiveness of capitalistic reform in developing nations, and the ways in which those countries can harness their latent economic potential. Peruvian economist de Soto (The Other Path, not reviewed) has shaken the world of economics and earned international acclaim with his innovative concepts for transforming the economies of underdeveloped countries. Here he again takes up the challenge posed by the struggles of the third world and the former Soviet satellite counties—this time by re-imagining the nature of property and the ways in which it becomes actively productive in a capitalist country. The author claims that property only becomes useful capital when it is legally recognized by a formal legal system, since it is only when it is formally titled that its potential can be harnessed for loans, taxes, and security. As he traces the development of the US economy, it becomes apparent that American economic stability and growth only flourished once the majority of its citizens achieved property rights and were integrated into a legal titling system. Arguing outward from this model, de Soto demonstrates that underdeveloped nations fail to make trillions of dollars' worth of capital available—largely because most of their citizens are refused legal rights to property. He builds on his argument by offering general rules for constructing a system that recognizes individual property rights and integrates those rights into a floundering economy. Stunningly conceived, compellingly argued, and impressively written: de Soto offers a rare combination of vision and pragmatism in what will very likely stand as one of the most important economic texts of our era.

The Other Path by Hernando Desoto

In this, his classic book on the informal economy of Peru and the reasons why poverty can be a breeding ground for terrorists, Hernando De Soto describes the forces that keep people dependent on underground economies: the bureaucratic barriers to legal property ownership and the lack of legal structures that recognize and encourage ownership of assets. It is exactly these forces, de Soto argues, that prevent houses, land, and machines from functioning as capital does in the West--as assets that can be leveraged to create more capital. Under the Fujimori government, de Soto's Institute for Liberty and Democracy wrote dozens of laws to promote property rights and bring people out of the informal economy and into the legitimate one. The result was not only an economic boon for Peru but also the defeat of the Shining Path, the terrorist movement and black-market force that was then threatening to take over the Peruvian government. In a new preface, de Soto relates his work to the present moment, making the connection between the Shining Path in the 1980's and the Taliban today.

The wretched of the Earth: the classic of the third world politics by Frantz Fanon

Frantz Fanon's seminal work on the trauma of colonization made him the leading anti-colonialist thinker of the twentieth century. Written at the height of the Algerian war for independence from French colonial rule and first published in 1961, it analyses the role of class, race, national culture and violence in the struggle for freedom. Fanon, himself a psychotherapist, makes clear the economic and psychological degradation inflicted by imperialism. Showing how decolonization must be combined with building a national culture, this passionate analysis of relations between the West and the Third World is still illuminating about the world today.

Best Laid Plans:how government planning harms your quality of life, your pocketbook and future by Randal O’Toole

Government planners think they know pretty much everything -- how far you should live from your job ... how big your backyard should be ... how cities and forests should grow. No surprise, then, that they also think they should have even more power over land and resources than they already have. But before we give it to them, it would be a good idea to read Randal O'Toole's eye-opening book, The Best-Laid Plans: How Government Planning Harms Your Quality of Life, Your Pocketbook, and Your Future -- which shows that, thanks to government planners, American cities are choked with congestion, major American housing markets have become unaffordable, and the cost of government infrastructure is spiraling out of control.

The Age of Abundance: How prosperity transformed America’s politics and culture by Brink Lindsey

In The Age of Abundance, Brink Lindsey offers a bold reinterpretation of the latter half of the 20th century. In this sweeping history of postwar America, the tumult of racial and gender politics, the rise of the counterculture, and the conservative revolution of the 1980s and 1990s are portrayed in an entirely new light. Readers will learn how and why the contemporary ideologies of left and right emerged in response to the novel challenges of widespread prosperity--and how a new, more libertarian consensus is forming that mixes the social freedom of the left with the economic freedom of the right. Commenting on Lindsey's provocative interpretation of mass affluence will be David Brooks, columnist for the New York Times and author of Bobos in Paradise.

Law,Liberty and livelihood: Making a living on the street by Parth J Shah and Naveen Mandava

A path - breaking study of what ails the urban poor, with detailed analysis of laws, personal interviews, field research, and case studies, the book shows that the absence of economic freedom is the main source of urban poverty. The study looks at state and municipal regulations to trace their debilitating effects on the working class poor. By researching issues at the ground level, the study details how these problems are caused, and provides policy solutions to manage them.

• Discussion on Liberty (Internal Event)

  Thu, 09 September, 2010 | 02:00 pm onwards

  Samriddhi's Office

• Lecture Series by Dr. Bhola Nath Chalise (Internal event)

  Fri, 10 September, 2010 | 05:00 pm onwards

• Boot Camp

  Sat, 18 September, 2010 | 09:30 am onwards

  Hotel Radisson, Lazimpat, Kathmandu.

• Last Thursdays Entrepreneurs Speak

  Thu, 30 September, 2010 | 05:30 pm onwards

  Dwarika's Hotel, Battisputali

• Freedom and equality: when are they mutually exclusive?

  by Sarita Sapkota | 02 September, 2010

  In the article 'Seven Principles of Sound Public Policy', Lawrence W. Reed stated his first principle as "Free people are not equal, and equal people are not free". Not referring to equality as the equality before law and purely taking it in a sense of material wealth, many people I know find the statement agreeable but somehow they don't like the sound of it and in a political setting like ours, its only predictable.

• काठमाडौंबासीहरुको बिजोग ।

  by Surath Giri | 02 September, 2010

  एकपल्ट फेरी काठमाडौंबासीहरुको बिजोग भएको छ । कथित सुकिला मुकिलाहरुको घर ,चोक र गल्लि-गल्लीमा फोहोरको डुङुर जम्मा भएको छ । कारण फोहोर फाल्न प्रयोग गरिरखिएको ठाउँ -ओखरपौवा-बासीको अबरोध । फोहोर फाल्ने जिम्मा पायेको काठमाडौं महानगरपालिकाको भरपुर प्रयासका बाबजुद गत एक हप्ता देखि काठमाडौंको फोहोर उठ्न सकिराखेको थिएन ।

• “Cooking is my hobby and that is what brought me to the meat products sector.”

  24 June, 2010

  Chandra Tiwari of Nina and Hager a brand name in the Nepal market of meat and processing shared his experience and journey as an entrepreneur at Last Thursdays on May 27th 2010, organized by Entrepreneurs of Nepal and Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation.

• Facts, not Fear.

  Environmentalist has mostly aimed school children to misinform with the help of textbook. Kids and young people are taught that Earth is moving on the brink of destruction and will be pushed into the unfathomed depth if their mothers use one more polystyrene cup.

• SOUND MONEY ESSAY CONTEST