, writes Mr.
> > Hausmann, who notes that of the world's 30 richest economies,
> > only Brunei, Hong Kong, and Singapore are in tropical zones.
> > "Countries that are tropical, far from the coast, and landlocked
> > have three geographical strikes against them," he writes.
, writes Mr. Hausmann, is the cost of land
> > transportation, which is up to 50 percent higher for the median
> > landlocked country than for the median coastal nation. Inland
> > African countries, China, and India thus remain far from markets
> > and maritime trade, he notes.
Interesting. But isn't China developing its coastal cities heavily, like
Shanghai and Shenzhen. Don't these cities benefit from a large
rural hinterland behind inland, at least as a cheap labour source, or
could China be richer if it didn't have these lands (I bet the Tibetans
and Western Chinese Muslims would be interested in this). Still
this doesn't bode well for Uzbekistan - the world's only landlocked
country totally surrounded by other landlocked countries. (The
Caspian doesn't count, really) Mind you, Switzerland wasn't doing
too badly last time I was there......
He disagrees with those who say Mozambique could
> > become Singapore if it could only get its institutions and
> > policies in order. "If a region is poor because its geography
> > undermines agricultural productivity, impedes market access, and
> > facilitates endemic disease, then good domestic policies will
> > hardly suffice to foster growth."
Suppose they'll have to sort their flooding problems first. That'll
take a lot of money for a country the size of Mozambique, so they'll
have to get quite wealthy first. But they won't get wealthy till they've
sorted the flooding.......
Hillary Shaw, P/G Geography, University of Leeds
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