Social unrest in places like Hong Kong is not proof of economic failure

THE MOLOTOV COCKTAILS, one blue, one yellow, arrive swaddled in a towel and wedged in a backpack. Wearing builders’ gloves and Guy Fawkes masks, the protesters balance them casually on a railing, like mixologists in a bar. Then the bricks arrive, piled on a trolley, hidden under a canopy of umbrellas. The protesters spend a few exultant minutes hurling projectiles and insults down the stairs of a subway exit at riot police below. A burst of flames adds drama, and is enough to provoke a response: a canister of tear gas rocketing up the stairs. The protesters disperse, and a row of police march up behind a tessellation of shields, firing gas as they go.