[wolverine876]

Is there any basis for pointing to free markets as opposed to every other factor? Other than free market fantasy?

We occupied and ran the countries for a decade, and funded, rebuilt, and defended them. Most of all, they were first-world economies before the war; Germany was probably the world center of intellect and culture. And they retained all those skills (though many leading pre-war intellects moved to the US), just not the infrastructure.

It's a bit different for Laos!