The Great Successor and Political Entrepreneurship

December 19, 2011 by Per Bylund

North Korean communist dictator Kim Jong Il is dead. The State Media reports that he died Saturday morning at age 69 on his “private” train of a heart attack (see also CNN, Fox, CBS). The population has already been prepared for the successor – in fact, the “Great Successor” to take over after the “Dear Leader” – Kim Jong Un, the third generation of “leaders” in the dictator-family.

(Obviously, the North Koreans seem to quickly be running out of good names for their dictators: from the Great Leader to the Dear Leader to the… Great Successor? What’s next?)

Let us hope that this successor is alert to his great opportunity to make history through replacing dictatorship with something much less invasive. After all, North Korea is failing and their lack of market incentives and private property (and consequently, entrepreneurship) means they are consuming whatever is left of their built-up capital. In other words, they are regressing in terms of prosperity and wealth, as one would expect from non-market economies.

Kim Jong Un, if you are reading this, here’s your great chance to make a difference: North Korea would be much better off with some political entrepreneurship. How about a “new economic policy” for your starving population – and perhaps a little freedom too?