2. “Centrally Planned” North Korea’s economy is a centrally planned economy: all economic decisions are handled by the state. Little to none small businesses; entrepreneurship is not encouraged.
3. Special Economic Zone Recent attempts at creating Chinese-style “Special Economic Zone” is a move towards decentralization. Specialized zones can only handle certain trades. Examples: Power and Energy Construction Banking Retail Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
5. History of DPRK The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea adopted a policy of Juche Juche: literally translates to self-reliance. A form of isolationism, juche has cut off North Korea from the outside world for decades. Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of underinvestment and shortages of spare parts. Large-scale military spending draws off resources needed for investment and civilian consumption. Industry has declined over the past two decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Widespread starvation and famine have plagued North Korea since 1995 An experimental private farmer’s market began to sell a wider range of goods which was an effort to boost agricultural output in 2002 In 2005 the North Korean government terminated most humanitarian assistants and restricted outside help such as the Food World Program. External food aid now comes mainly from China and South Korea in forms of grants and long-term concessional loans
6. Fast Facts… GDP: $40 billion Comparison to the rest of the world: 96 GDP Per Capita: $1,800 Labor force: 20 million As of 2004 the unemployment rate of North Korea was 3.6%, there is no known rate to date
7. Fast Facts cont’d. Exporting partners: South Korea 45%, China 35%, India 5% as of 2007 Exchange rate: North Korea uses the won, which is equivalent to 3,400 KPW to the US dollar
8. United States of America Economy Capitalist economy Largest national economy in ze world GDP: $14.441 trillion GDP Per Capita: $47,422 Labor Force: 155 million (unemployed included) Low Unemployment rate Capitalism The central feature of the U.S. economy is the economic freedom afforded to individual businesses and companies
9. …Continued Exporting partners: Canada 21.4%, Mexico 11.7%, China 5.6%, Japan 5.4%, Germany 4.3%, United Kingdom 4.1% Importing partners: China 16.9%, Canada 15.7%, Mexico 10.6%, Japan 7.4%, Germany 7.4%
10. U.S. History of Economy Started off as independent farming economy (1776) Over the course of 230 years, the U.S. grew to a huge, integrated, industrialized economy Large unified market Supportive political-legal system Vast areas of highly productive farmlands Vast natural resources Entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to investing in material human capital Makes up a quarter of the world’s economy
11. Communism vs Democracy Communism is a base form of government, meaning it can exist with or without any other form of government. Capitalism is a higher form of government that cannot exist on its own it must have a base form of government. If "Capitalism" was converted into a base form of government you would have an "Aristocracy” an elite political body that is the government Attempting to compare these two forms is therefore not really possible unless you compare Aristocracy to Communism.
