Since it is pretty much the only system used today, that is kind of hard to avoid. But on a serious note, the command economy of the Soviet Union did surprisi

Since it is pretty much the only system used today, that is kind of hard to avoid. But on a serious note, the command economy of the Soviet Union did surprisingly well despite its profound number of flaws. Literacy rates, economic output, educational levels, scientific output etc was significantly improved in Soviet times, relative to the Czar area which after all was capitalist. This all happened despite the fact that: 1. They had a bloody and destructive revolution. 2. Their country got laid to ruins by the German invasion. 3. They had to rebuild the country after WWII with most of the healthiest and youngest members of society dead. Yet they pulled that off surprisingly well. Yes if you compare Soviet growth to a number of other countries it was not always stellar, but considering that these countries had not received the same kind of devastating blows, it was still quite remarkable. China is another good example. India and China had the same GDP per capita in the 1940s. China had a destructive Japanese invasion and then a bloody civil war. Then Mao did the crazy cultural revolution setting them back even more. Despite all this China has 3x the GDP per capita of India. All despite the fact that India had democracy, private property and capitalist enterprises in this whole period. Even today almost all key industries in China are fully or partially owned by the state. Such as construction, energy, banking etc. Yes China has lots of private enterprise as well. But they got growing rapidly long before these dominated the economy. No, economy has pulled as many people out of poverty as China, and they did that with what can best be described as hybrid system. The Chinese economic miracle had been ongoing for many years before private property was actually made legal in China. NOTE: I am not advocating these kinds of system as they are dictatorships. But I think they are worth pondering before people push the truthism that capitalism is so superior as an economic system and that alternatives cannot perform. The evidence seems to suggest that other systems can work and perhaps the best systems are hybrid systems.