[baddox]

Couldn’t it just be a coincidence that the most recent wealthy societies are the wealthiest societies in history, and they also tend to claim to adhere to “free markets” ideas? The wealth could actually be caused by compounding benefits of technology or even exploitation of other societies, and may have little to do with how their public schools describe their economic system in middle school civics courses.

[WalterBright]

Except it happens over and over again - when countries turn to free markets, they get much much wealthier. None of them get poorer.