THE CHICAGO WAY IS THE ONLY WAY:

After the worst economic collapse in modern history, Venezuela's economy may finally have hit bottom.

The hyperinflation of years past is still, well, hyper, but it has moderated dramatically from levels that exceeded hundreds of thousands of percentage points a year. And President Nicolas Maduro is confident that output, which has contracted by about 80% since 2012, will expand slightly in 2021, a forecast shared by some private analysts.

The turnaround is mostly due to a combination of reforms straight out of economic orthodoxy: eliminating price controls, reducing subsidies on essentials such gasoline and removing many restrictions on foreign exchange. Today, almost everything in the country is priced in dollars, not bolivars. Even a sign in the biggest slum in Caracas, the capital city, advertises a haircut for $2.

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