Capitalism vs Communism

You rarely get to experiment in economics, there are too many variables to control for, but this is as pure an experiment as you're ever likely to get. The Koreas began in exactly the same place. Third world backwaters, culturally and racially homogeneous, same natural resources, who differed only in economic system. One capitalist and the other as pure a form of Marxist communism as you're likely to find. Both started with essentially authoritarian governments, although the south has become democratic over time. And the result:

Now this result looks the same whenever you compare hard-hearted capitalist countries with compassionate socialist ones, the degree of difference in living standards almost exactly correlated with the degree of government control, but the Koreas provide a unique and glaring example of the difference. Study it and remember that the south is a prosperous, quasi-first world nation and in the north they eat grass and suffer from frequent famines in addition to suffering under an odious and oppressive government.