When the supply of toilet paper started running out back in 2013, the Venezuelan authorities came up with a novel explanation. “95% of people eat three or more meals a day,” the president of the National Statistics Institute, Elias Eljuri, said at the time. The suggestion appeared to be that if only Venezuelans ate less, there would not be a shortage of materials to clean backsides.
What the statement failed to mention was the use of price caps by the president, Nicolas Maduro—a forlorn attempt by the country’s leader to shield the public from the effects of a broken and corrupt economy.
