Capitalism is failing North Korea?

By Alex Singleton | 17 May 2005

Brian Micklethwait is rather amused that "market reforms" are being blamed by the BBC for starvation in North Korea. The communist country, by virtue of its communist economy, has been unable to produce enough food. The ability of government to provide enough food to everyone has broken down. So the government has cut the food it provides to each of its citizens. This is not market failure: it is government failure.

Perhaps from this BBC report we should conclude that North Korea should become more communist. On the other hand, perhaps North Korea should become more like Britain, where there are 9p tins of baked beans and 15p loaves of bread?