By shifting from a centrally planned economy to a market-based one, China has fostered growth through decentralization and experimentation.

FORBES: Give China's New Leadership Time to Implement Needed Reforms

The road China has taken from a centrally planned economy has been brave.

ECONOMIST: China��s state capitalism

Fourteen private banks, all of which are subsidiaries of Arab banks, have opened since Syria's centrally planned economy started to creak open in 2000.

ECONOMIST: Syria's government bonds

In addition to providing critical capital and helping underwrite both healthy and faltering SOEs, the listings provide legitimacy for China's centrally planned economy and create a global constituency with a vested interest in ensuring that these companies not only survive, but prosper.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

Back in the 1960s, Americans feared the "terrifying efficiency" of the centrally planned Soviet economy, to borrow a no-joke famous phrase from the British politician Richard Crossman.

CNN: Is China's rise overrated?

Hungary has made the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy, with a per capita income nearly two-thirds that of the EU-25 average.

FORBES: Hungary

The same is true for economies: the more complex the economy the more difficult it is to be centrally planned.

FORBES: Getting Your Arms Around China And Japan