The Brutal Economic Impact of North Korean Statism

One hopes that the dictator of North Korea suffered greatly before he died. After all, his totalitarian and communist (pardon the redundancy) policies caused untold death and misery.

But let’s try to learn an economics lesson. In a previous post, I compared long-term growth in Hong Kong and Argentina to show the difference between capitalism and cronyism.

But for a much more dramatic comparison, look at the difference between North Korea and South Korea.

Hmmm…, I wonder if we can conclude that markets are better than statism? I bet even Harry Reid can guess the answer.

And if you like these types of comparisons, here’s a post showing how Singapore has caught up with the United States. And here’s another comparing what’s happened in the past 30 years in Chile, Argentina, and Venezuela.

All of these comparisons show the importance of good policy. Nations with bloated pubic sectors and excessive government intervention don’t grow as quickly as countries with small government and free markets.

Using data from the Economic Freedom of the World Index, this video explains the variables that lead to more prosperity.

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Sadly, the United States has been falling behind in this key measure of competitiveness. Thanks to the statist policies of both Bush and Obama, America has dropped from 3rd in 2000 to 10th in the most recent rankings.