Zimbabwe has the world's best-performing stock exchange?

I was intrigued today by a post on the blog of the Ludwig von Mises Institute (an economic think tank devoted to the "Austrian school" of economics in ... Alabama). John Paul Koning makes the fascinating observation that, despite having one of the world's worst economies—quadruple-digit inflation, unemployment at 80 percent, rampant poverty—Zimbabwe may just possess one of the best-performing stock exchanges in the world. 

At least by the look of it, that is. The country's out-of-control inflation has actually left most investors worse off than at the beginning of last year, despite the impressive gains it appears the market has made (a 350 percent increase over last year, by one count). But you can be sure that if someone is making a tidy profit, it's because he or she is an FOM—Friend of Mugabe.