West Germany vs. East Germany

After World War II, Germany was divided. West Germany rebuilt as a market economy with private control, prices set by supply and demand, and broad economic freedom. East Germany became a centrally planned state where the government controlled industry and set production targets. The starting point was the same: the same people, language, culture, and war damage on both sides. The system was the variable. West Germany recovered quickly and became one of the largest economies in the world, with rising wages and full store shelves. East Germany lagged badly, with chronic shortages, long waits for basic goods, and far lower living standards. The clearest evidence was which way people moved. So many East Germans left for the west that in 1961 the government built the Berlin Wall, not to keep enemies out but to keep its own citizens in. When the Wall fell in 1989 and Germany reunified in 1990, the gap between the two systems was on full display.