Korea may be the only country on earth able to stand toe-to-toe with Poland in a Bad Choice of Neighbors contest. Poland’s history includes multiple partitions, a complete disappearance, brutal invasions and fighting on its soil, and an artificial division between hostile powers, while Korea’s history includes pretty much the exact same list.

The significant and lasting difference between the two countries is Korea had the good sense to be occupied by the U.S. instead of Russia. It is often pointed out that when Ghana was granted independence from the UK in 1960, it had the same gross domestic product (GDP) as Korea, a situation almost incomprehensible today. If you are going to be occupied, make sure the occupying power does everything it can to finance your development and prove a point about the merits of its economic system vis--vis a communist alternative.

The largesse, however, has not been in one direction only. The Korean brand of crony capitalism — consisting of large conglomerates, or chaebol, intertwined with government agencies — provided a model for the evolution of American business during the recent bailout binge.