Once upon a time, an out-of-touch queen heard of her subjects’ lack of bread and supposedly responded, “Let them eat cake.”
Hunger has become so bad in Venezuela that its own out-of-touch ruler has proclaimed, in essence, “let them eat rabbits.”
This is how far Venezuela has fallen. And yet, only a few years ago, many (including the American left) were heralding the rise of “Bolivarian socialism” as the wave of the future and the hope for the people. How can a nation plummet so deeply into squalor so quickly in spite of abundant natural resources? Economists James Harrigan and Antony Davies explain in this new podcast episode.
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Articles
- The Truth About Venezuela's Economic War - InsideSources, www.insidesources.com
- Venezuela's Maduro seeks debt negotiations after U.S. sanctions, www.reuters.com
- Rabbits Won't Save Venezuela from Going Hungry, FEE.org
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James R. Harrigan
James R. Harrigan is Managing Director of the Center for Philosophy of Freedom at the University of Arizona, and the F.A. Hayek Distinguished Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education. He is also co-host of the Words & Numbers podcast.
Antony Davies
Dr. Antony Davies is the Milton Friedman Distinguished Fellow at FEE, associate professor of economics at Duquesne University, and co-host of the podcast, Words & Numbers.