In the World Development journal, a 1990 article by R. G. Rossini and J. J. Thomas of the London School of Economics questioned the statistical basis of de Soto's claims about the size of the informal economy in his first book The Other Path.Rossini, R. G. and J. J. Thomas. "The size of the informal sector in Peru: A critical comment on Hernando de Soto's El Otro Sendero", in World Development, Volume 18, Issue 1, January 1990, pp. 125–35. The ILD responded in the same journal that Rossini and Thomas’ observations "neither [addressed] the central theme of the book, nor [did it address] the main body of quantitative evidence displayed to substantiate the importance of economic and legal barriers that give rise to informal activities. Instead, [they focused] exclusively on four empirical estimates that the book [mentioned] only in passing".
