Monday, April 09, 2007

Truth About Economic System In North Korea

We learnt about the difference between the Capitalist (Laissez-Faire) economic system and the centrally-command economic system in North Korea.
Found this article about the actual situation in North Korea at which the Government plays the role of resource allocator, wealth distibutor, sole employer of the labour, welfare guardian of the the people.
The excerpts of the article

The economic destruction of North Korea's economy by a result of decades of socialism. By turning all property over to the state, for over 50 years, the inhabitants have been suffering from extreme poverty.

Price increases by government typified the policies.
In order to increase the productivity of workers, wages were arbitrarily raised by 900 to 2,000 percent.
The government printed more money, and on one day this past summer, every North Korean worker received a 2,000 percent raise."

Also occurring with the wage increases was a rise in prices for almost every commodity. The price of rice, the staple of most Asian diets, rocketed by 4,000 percent, while the price of electricity rocketed 5,900 percent.



For further reading this is the URL:
http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp?control=440&sortorder=articledate


The article gave us an impression how life is like in a centrally command economy where the

state made all the economic decisions.
Is it a justification why we should turn to the capitalist economy? Well..it depends..