The Economics of Bertrand De Jouvenel (Critical Essay‪)‬

The Death of Socialism? In recent years, the world has witnessed the most surprising events since World War II. Almost overnight, the Berlin wall came down, Communist control of the Soviet Union and all of eastern Europe virtually disappeared, and a very determined man, friendly to the West, religion, and the free market, was elected president of the newly reconstituted Russia, resisted two coups d'etat, and instituted free-market reforms. Even in mainland China, still officially Communist, economic reforms have been tolerated, moving at least certain segments of the nation toward freedom. It is a sign of the times that the two largest fast-food chains in the world now maintain franchises in Beijing and Moscow. Certainly, to any person who has seen how the varieties of socialism have ravaged the economies and freedoms of millions of people, and have produced the nuclear-shrouded nightmare of the Cold War, these events come as a great blessing and relief.