Interiors

BOLIVIA’S quest to recover the coastline it lost in a 19th-century war looks like romantic folly. Much of its trade passes through Chile, and no political deal can reduce the distance between Bolivia’s cities and the sea. But the loss is not just symbolic. If trade flowed freely, being landlocked would be no impediment to growth. In the real world, it is.

With a few exceptions the world’s 45 landlocked countries are poor. Of the 15 lowest-ranking countries in the Human Development Index, eight have no coastline. All of these are in Africa, which is a poor region. But even compared with similar sea-front countries those without coastlines have lagged behind. Their GDP per person is 40% lower than that of their maritime neighbours.

Their most obvious handicap is in moving goods to and from ports. International treaties promise access to the oceans, but responsibility for implementing them lies with the governments of the “transit states”. They have little incentive to build infrastructure that would mainly help their neighbours.

Border officials in both landlocked and transit countries often extract bribes and cause delays. According to Jean-François Arvis of the World Bank, lorries travelling to poor landlocked countries cover 250km (150 miles) a day. That is half the rate of progress of those driving just within neighbouring coastal states....

from The Economist: The Americas http://ift.tt/1ESA2Tc