With Venezuelan Cupboards Bare, Some Blame Price Controls

that state after the govt took over the companies, the production fell. I would love to see some concrete proof of this. I don't doubt that it could happen esp at first, but it would seem over time that production should reach a base line to where it was before the takeover.

before expropriation when the prices are set so low as to make production unprofitable.

Unfortunately it has been proven time and time again from ex-Soviet factories after the break up of the USSR to China after they opened up to foreign investment in the 80's. Taking over companies is not a guaranteed win for any country's economy and population especially if it was not thought out properly and especially if such activities were done quickly in order to gain political points and give the illusion that the government was doing something about the evil capitalist. Zimbabwe did the same thing with white owned farms and the country changed from a food exporter to a food importer. When the ownership of the farms were forcibly changes, the new landlords many of whom had less farming skills, access to equipment, access to farming consumable like fertilizers and pesticides mostly due to the lack of funds and you have a recipe for disaster. Of course the trickle down effects from such activities will only be felt years down the road. It's not so straight forward as some people would like to believe.