Venezuela failed because of the lack of a free market. Almost all economic activity was by the government, there were price controls on everything. It turns out the market is much more efficient in managing resources than any one organisation.<p>IOW, in case it's not clear, Venezuela failed because of socialism. It's hilarious to see all these long winded explanations that refuse to name the well known philosophy that has repeatedly led countries to the same place. There is no analysis needed. It has been analysed a hundred times already in history.<p>Suppose I fell off from a hundred story building and died. Now imagine newspaper articles going into gravitational theory and saying that the cause of death was a high speed impact with the ground, which was worsened because it was concrete. That would be stupid. The well known fact is that I died because I fell from a high place. You don't need an analysis for that. It's obvious. Once a phenomenon has been explained and analysed well enough, it can just be named and you need not go into a lot of details and develop your own theory. You can just reuse the name and everybody understands.