I'd take a few of countries that you think are good examples, why, and their median PPP household income and/or examples of the life of a typical person. For ex

I'd take a few of countries that you think are good examples, why, and their median PPP household income and/or examples of the life of a typical person. For example, here are some negative examples: - USSR: The USSR had a centrally planned economy, with centrallly planned wages designed to limit differentiation between those at the top of the income scale and those at the bottom. A typical family lived in a ~10x10 single room apartment. Often these apartments did not have kitchens, and never 'bedrooms' (I do mean 'single room.). Even though the workers were 'paid', they often could not buy basic things like food, soap, and toilet paper due to chronic underproduction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communal_apartment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communal_apartment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Soviet_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Soviet_Union http://reason.com/blog/2015/04/06/revealed-the-final-stage-of-socialism-is http://reason.com/blog/2015/04/06/revealed-the-final-stage-o... http://articles.philly.com/1989-07-21/news/26131831_1_soap-powder-soviet-economists-shortages http://articles.philly.com/1989-07-21/news/26131831_1_soap-p... - Cuba Cuba's economy is dominated by state-run enterprises, with 76% public sector employment. In Cuba, employees in some skilled professions that are not favored by the state, like medical doctors, work in slave-like conditions. GDP per capita is only $10k PPP, less than 1/5th that of the USA. References: http://www.wsj.com/articles/mary-ogrady-cubas-slave-trade-in-doctors-1415573715 http://www.wsj.com/articles/mary-ogrady-cubas-slave-trade-in... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Cuba https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Cuba https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States - China In the mid 1990s, China's state-owned economy was teetering on bankruptcy. As an experiment, China began to allow select cities to ignore the old rules on enterprise management, wages, guaranteed employment, etc. By the late 90's, these cities had spawned some of the largest appliance manufacturers in the world, and China began to implement these policies more broadly. Since the reforms, China's GDP has risen tenfold, with productivity increases accounting for nearly half of the rise. During the reform period, PPP per capita incomes have grown at ~6.6% annually. http://www.economist.com/node/21528262 http://www.economist.com/node/21528262 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_economic_reform https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_economic_reform That is what I would consider two well-documented examples countries with large social apparatuses that resulted in disaster, and one that significantly improved the standard of living for everyone by scrapping their old guarantees. I was hoping that you could provide me with something similar to support your views.