Liberal Forum

I lived through a full economic collapse (in the Nineties, after the downfall of the Soviet regimes in Eastern Europe). 

The ruling Party saw the writing on the wall, and in a few short years drained as much as possible out of the country’s economy. (Then bundled their families and went to live West.)

What was left behind was extremely outdated infrastructure - and no money to fix/rebuild/manufacture, etc. 

Then we went through stages where we had to sell essentials in order to afford food: we were exporting electricity, while the country was living on 2 hours on-2 hours off power schedule. Everyone was advised to turn off all appliances except the fridge.

One lightbulb per household at a time. This lasted for few years, while the newly-elected democratic government was trying to put the country back together.

(And since the populace has short memory span, they were blamed for the lack of basic necessities. Which, in turn, facilitated the eventual return of the Party that stole everything in a first place.) 

We were eating boiled potatoes as a main sustenance. There was coupon system for milk, bread, cheese, eggs.

You still have to go wait in front of the store at 4 am, because, even with a coupon, there wasn’t enough to go around. Then we got outside help: the International Monetary Fund put the country under monitoring. For as long as everyone was frugal, and did not have increases in salaries and pensions, we could rely on their funding, to rebuild the country. So everyone tightened their belts, and - with the money coming in - began rebuilding.

(And stealing, of course. The Russian mafia entered the country at that time, and started shooting people who had successful businesses, so they can take over.) 

Around 15% or the population got sick and tired, and left for the Western world. Ultimately, the country never did fully recover: the large presence of Russian (and now also local) mafia hinders people’s ability to build successful businesses.

Anything that looks promising gets taken over. So the country is middling, with an upper crust of well-off people, and larger population which is just getting by. Last time I looked, the birth rate was still negative.