Elena Panaritis Social Entrepreneur, Author, Government Advisor speaks at UCLA, USC Santa Clara University

Online, November 12, 2009 (Newswire.com) - Contact: Rachel Beach, [email protected], Office: (202) 506-9061, Mobile (202) 351-9359

Elena Panaritis Social Entrepreneur and Property Rights Reform Expert to speak at:

University of Southern California (USC), Santa Clara University and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
The Events

Tackling the Roots of the Crisis: A Proposal for Stabilizing Property:

University of Southern California's (USC) School of Policy, Planning, and Development, Tuesday, November 17, 12:15 - 1:30pm. Tridib Banerjee has put together a fantastic Urban Seminar Series, where Elena will explore the relationship between poverty and uncontrollable real estate prices.

A Powerful Formula for Prosperity for the World's Poor ... and It's Already Working:

Santa Clara University: Friday, November 20, 5:30 - 7:30pm. Elena presents how informal property rights can be opportunities to social entrepreneurs; sponsored by The Real Estate Network.

Establishing Formal Rules - such as Property Rights - is a Promising Road to Sustainable Economic Growth and Peace:

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA): Wednesday, November 18 2:00-3:30. Steven Spiegel from the Center of Middle East Economic Development invites Elena to address how establishing market rules affects peace.
About Elena Panaritis

Elena Panaritis' work is considered one of the best practical applications of institutional economics. Her book Prosperity Unbound: Building Property Markets with Trust (Palgrave Macmillan) expounds on her methodology. She is an expert on property rights, illiquid real estate assets, and public sector management. She continues the discussion of her timely ideas in the context of the current global economic crisis and that of reducing informal property around the world. She currently blogs at www.prosperityunbound.com/blog.

Elena is the founder of a "triple-bottom-line" social entrepreneurial firm, Panel Group LLC, a specialized advisory group that provides counsel and technical expertise on transforming illiquid real estate. Today her company applies reforms techniques funded through private investment, giving significant financial, social and environmental returns. She has played a direct, hands-on role in creating stable property rights systems. In more than a decade as an economist at the World Bank, she spearheaded property rights reform in Peru that was awarded as International Best Practice and Innovation. In this reform, nine million people became part of middle class and the formal market in about three years.

Economists have referred to Elena's work as a "real contribution". Willem Buiter of the Financial Times cited Prosperity Unbound and Elena's work as an example of "useful finance" in his Financial Times column. Taking "useless" and "harmful" finance based on derivatives to task, the London School of Economics professor and former chief economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development writes that "effective and efficient financial intermediation is a necessary condition for prosperity" and specifically recommends Panaritis' book. "The world described in [Prosperity Unbound], where the foundations of a productive market economy are being put in place, appears light years removed from the world of Wall Street ..."