What is the most effective way to fight poverty and hunger? Many people would say development aid, despite the fact this has not delivered effective or lasting change in Africa at any point over the past 50 years. However, what has worked very well in various countries is the introduction of features of the market economy and private property rights. In China in 1981, before Deng Xiaoping’s reforms, 88% of the population was living in extreme poverty. Thanks to China’s market economy reforms, that figure is now considerably lower.

A less well-known but particularly successful example is Vietnam. Vietnam still calls itself socialist, but in the economic sphere, there is hardly a trace of socialism. In fact, I met fewer Marxists and more staunch supporters of capitalism in Vietnam than in Europe.