I don’t think WWII presents a case for state planning capacity being all that disconnected from population. Looks like Germany lost roughly 10% of its population and Japan 5%. Big by normal standards but I wouldn’t expect that to be civilizational collapse levels and I think their quick economic recoveries are in line with the timeframe you’d expect for replacing that population. Plague killed more like 30-60%.
I don’t think WWII presents a case for state planning capacity being all that disconnected from population. Looks like Germany lost roughly 10% of its population and Japan 5%. Big by normal standards but I wouldn’t expect that to be civilizational collapse levels and I think their quick economic recoveries are in line with the timeframe you’d expect for replacing that population. Plague killed more like 30-60%.