In 1957, Ghana was the richest nation in sub-Saharan Africa with a per capita income of $490. That was nearly the same as South Korea which had a per capita income of $491.  By the early 1980s Ghana’s per capita income had been reduced to $400 while South Korea’s per capita income had grown to a whopping $2,000.  By 1990 South Korea’s per capita income was ten times larger than Ghana - $4,832 versus $481. In 2020 South Korea's was $17,788 and Ghana's $2329.

In 1957 both nations were born and became democracies. Ghana had massive wealth, exporting cocoa, gold, and many other minerals. South Korea was largely reliant on subsidies from the USA.

What caused the disparity? What did South Korea do differently?

Kwame Nkrumah the first leader of Ghana was a devout socialist, he actually won the Lenin peace prize in 1962. He plundered the countries wealth, before being overthrown in 1966. All the smartest and educated people left for the UK and the US. His socialist policies along with top to bottom corruption destroyed one of the jewels of Africa.

South Korea on the other hand pursued free-market capitalism with a vengeance from the get-go. Today it is the 10th largest economy in the world with a GDP of $1.8 Trillion. Ghana is nearly 25 times smaller at $74 Billion and is in front of countries like Venezuela but behind Myanmar and the Dominican Republic.

It's not all an apples-to-apples comparison but it's pretty close. I could do fifty more comparisons between capitalism Vs socialism (except for China, I'll deal with that another time) and the outcome would all be the same, capitalism wins every time.