Special to The National Herald

Science Series

FEBRUARY 12-18, 2011

Institutional economist Elena Panaritis says more  than four billion  people around the world live  and  work  without formal property ownership rights to their places  of residence. These assets are  worth approximately $9  trillion -  twice the money supply of the United States. Panaritis said  she  believes that it is vitally important to recognize the established lifestyles of these occupants and  to stop what she says  is the injustice of the system. Hurricane Katrina bore wit- ness to an example of the dilemma faced  by residents when damages occurred to the houses they lived in. Many resi- dents refused to leave  their homes because they lacked for- mal  ownership and  were  afraid of facing any new occupants pre- empting their homes by claiming ownership on  their return. Re- ports of  poverty-stricken areas in  the Balkans, Latin America and  in other parts of the world have  shown that returning homeowners  may   no   longer hold  enforceable claim  to property they occupied by  adverse possession.

Panaritis tells the following story to illustrate how  lives can be  changed through ownership of property. Rita, a seamstress in Lima, Peru  was earning the equivalent of $80  a month. She is now earning more than $1,000 a month based on her  ability to leverage the measurable value of her  property and  enhance her business enterprise. Panaritis presented those cases  in her her book,“Prosperity Unbound: Building Property  Rights with Trust, with a  foreword by  Dr. Francis Fukuyama, at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. At her presentation,  Fukuyama spoke of the development of property rights in  worldwide economies today. He is Dean  of Faculty and Bernard I. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy, at the Paul  H.  Nitze School  of Advanced International Studies Elena Panaritis working in a suburb of  Ouagadugu the capital city of  the African  country of Burkina Faso, where she  tried improve living conditions and property markets (SAIS.) Panaritis’ narrative draws on extensive research and seeks a practical formula to break the global deadlocked cycle of frus- tration and helplessness associ- ated with informal estate occu- pancy. Panaritis offers a fresh approach, with documented re- sults on how to add property value. Susan Wachter, from The Wharton School Real Estate and Finance, University of Pennsyl- vania and former Assistant Sec- retary at the U. S. Housing and Urban Development Depart- ment, said of Panaritis’ book: “In- dispensable reading for both public and private sector leaders and for anyone interested in the implications of informality for transferring real estate markets. It provides critical insights on why and how institutions and property rights matter for eco- nomic and social developments and a road map for the way for- ward.”
D.C., and  her  path from  depen- dency  on  the state, to middle- class  proud owner. She  turned her  life  around to “real  choice and   property.” She  lived  in  a poor  neighborhood. When  the house in which  she lived burned down, she  evacuated with her children to her  mother’s apart- ment building. The  apartment building was rent-controlled. Subsequently, it was condemned and a 30-day eviction notice was posted. The building’s occupants were  victimized by what author Panaritis called  “unreal” estate. The  property had  been  heavily regulated with no transparency of rights regarding use  and  re- sponsibilities and  was  thereby “rendered illiquid,” Fortunately, Thomas felt sufficiently empow- ered  to look  for a legal  avenue to allow  tenants the choice  of purchase to become actual own- ers.  Her  pursuit and  persever- ance  succeeded. The  building and its apartments became valu- able   because it was  removed from public  housing and  its ten- ants became proud owners. This provided renovations and  new beginnings.

Panaritis also made a presen-

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sues  they create. In her  study, a review of  property ownership and        occupancy      behavior throughout history, Panaritis ob- served that  “the U.  S.  has   a rather weak  institutional infra- structure when it comes  to se- curing the tradability risk of real estate.” She  further observed “property rights in  the United States are not always as solid as many  of us think they are, which distorts incentive and  relative prices. Not all information is reg- istered in county registries and so one  has  to do a long  search, and also purchase title insurance to accompany the final  transac- tion. The end result is that some of the characteristics of real  es- tate allow  speculative bubbles.” Panaritis came  to the Uniteds States  when  she   was   in  her twenties and  became an Ameri- can  citizen. She  has  degrees in economics and  finance from the Johns     Hopkins    University, School   of  Advanced  Interna- tional Studies in Bologna, Italy, and  Washington, D.C.,  INSEAD in France and The American Col- lege of Greece  in Athens. She is the author of a number of pub- lications and  articles in her field

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Panaritis tells the following story to illustrate how  lives can be  changed through ownership of property. Rita, a seamstress in Lima, Peru  was earning the equivalent of $80  a month. She is now earning more than $1,000 a month based on her  ability to leverage the measurable value of her  property and  enhance her business enterprise. Panaritis presented those cases  in her her book,“Prosperity Unbound: Building Property  Rights with Trust, with a  foreword by  Dr. Francis Fukuyama, at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. At her presentation,  Fukuyama spoke of the development of property rights in  worldwide economies today. He is Dean  of Faculty and Bernard I. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy, at the Paul  H.  Nitze School  of Advanced International Studies
(SAIS.) Panaritis’ narrative draws on extensive research and  seeks a practical formula to break the global  deadlocked cycle of frus- tration and  helplessness associ- ated with informal estate occu- pancy. Panaritis offers  a  fresh approach, with documented re- sults on  how  to add   property value. Susan Wachter, from  The Wharton School  Real Estate and Finance, University of  Pennsyl- vania  and  former Assistant Sec- retary at the U. S. Housing and Urban  Development Depart- ment, said of Panaritis’ book: “In- dispensable reading for both public  and private sector leaders and  for anyone interested in the implications of  informality for transferring real  estate markets. It provides critical insights on why  and  how  institutions and property rights matter for  eco- nomic  and  social  developments and  a road  map  for the way for- ward.”
THOSE GREEK ROOTS

Panaritis grew  up  in  Greece in a family  that emphasized ed- ucation. Her  father was  gradu- ated from  the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in en- gineering. He served as an  offi- cer  in  the Greek  army, and  at NATO, where he  worked in de- veloping the telecommunica- tions network. He  is now  a re- tired Lieutenant General residing in Greece. She lives and works  in  Washington, D.C.,  as well  as  in  Athens, where  was elected a Member of Parliament in Greece  in 2009 as a member of  the  Socialist PASOK party. Greeks  have  historically valued property ownership. Owning property means a certain control of one’s destiny in  life  and  the pride that goes with it. Her fam- ily’s own  property perhaps was a precursor to Panaritis’ dedica- tion to promoting better condi- tions for those who  lack the se-
curity of  ownership, that  she said is a global issue. Her re- search has included property rights in the United States and from  Peru  to Paris  and  beyond. Her documented findings of problems established awareness of the issues  that have  been  cre- ated. She recommends viable so- lutions to undo precedents of ownership wrongs. Spearhead- ing  reform, Panaritis explains that “Property is the unique asset of  what we  use  in  all  possible ways  within the current world economy. It is the common ele- ment that connects all  people, affecting us  in  the same   way. Whether in  the neighborhoods of Washington, D.C., Lima, Mumbai or  Paris,  the cycle  of poverty and  all that goes with it can be broken.”

In her book, she describes success  stories of her methodol- ogy,  such   as  that of  Deborah Thomas, a native of Washington,
tation at the International Mon- etary Fund  (IMF) in Washington, D.C. on the greater institutional aspects of  property rights and the impacts of informal property rights. She  employed examples from  Latin America  and  emerg- ing  Europe, discussing reform programs that she  led  with her team in Peru  as well as reforms in Bulgaria. In further describing what she  coins  “reality check analysis”  -  the first step to re- form  - she  claims  that in order to understand the root of  the current problem, one  has to an- alyze  the distortions each  his- toric  break  has   created  in  a country’s property rights system. This  means looking at the his- tory to establish who the players were, their incentives, and  find- ing out who are the winners and losers  of the reform of property rights. This includes a review of “unreal” or  informal property and  reforms that address the is-
of expertise and  lectures at The Wharton School and Johns Hop- kins  University of Advanced In- ternational  Studies. She  was  a leading force  in property rights reform while   working at The World  Bank as an economist for more  than 10 years.  Among  Pa- naritis’ awards are Best Practice, and Innovation, from The World Bank.  As a social  entrepreneur, she heads The Panel  Group. She travels extensively in connection with her  work  and  is fluent in several languages including Spanish, Italian, and French. Her interests include photography, travel, and water sports. She en- joys gourmet cooking, port wine, and  she is a tango aficionada.

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Canadian-born Helen  Panarites is  a  freelance writer  based in Washington, D.C. and is a corre- spondent for The National Her- ald.  She worked as a broadcast writer for the Voice of America.

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