Bolivia

[VetLegion]

No, this is not a thread about some weird thing mr. Morales did.

I'm very interested in international economics. I find the puzzle of different development in the world very challenging and I spend a lot of my free time reading about economies of various countries.

So I stumbled upon the wikipedia article about Bolivian economy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bolivia

It's a typical Latin American story. The people aren't exactly starving but the country can't seem to get off the ground. OK, they seem to have gotten the internet, as we can see by Brachy-Pride being able to post

My question is why is Bolivia so damn underdeveloped? And what can be done?

[SlowwHand]

Because they're backasswards. Why them and not any of the other places just like them, like Alberta.

[Dinner]

Poor policy decisions both past and present.

[Barnabas]

I post from Argentina! (but there is internet in bolivia)



And the reason why Bolivia is so poor, is mainly geography, it is landlocked, because of geography exporting thru Peru is difficult, (bolivia is pretty much like tibet)
exporting thru the amazonas or paraguay rivers is complicated and big ass ships cant get there, and exporting thru chile is easy, but they stole all our coastland in the XIX century, and we still claim to chile that they give us at least one harbour in the pacific, no diplomatic relations etc.
For example, we dont sell gas to chile, argentina buys gas from us and then re-sells it to chile.

the funny thing is bolivia for centuries was the saudi arabia of the world, the silver and gold from potosi kept the world rolling.
I believe there are 3 levels of development in latin america, semi industrialized countries (brazil, argentina, chile, mexico) countries than only export primary goods, and then bolivia which because of its landlockedness cant even do that

[Dr Strangelove]

Don't forget that they're high on Cocaine too.

[Barnabas]

we just chew coca leafs to not get dizzy in the highs! (and by high I mean altitude)

[Bosh]

Also Bolivia has a very much sub-par educational system and a good deal of ethnic tentions due to the white elite having dominated the Quechua/Aymara majority for hundreds of years. I have never seen more blatant racism in my life than when I lived in Boliva.

I could see Bolivia eventually becoming a place for Chilean/Brazilian/whatever companies to dodge higher labor costs at home if those economies keep on going like they have been. That could work fairly well...

[techumseh]

Years of oppression by military dictatorships, etc. etc.

[Barnabas]

Bosh is right, unfortunately ..

[VetLegion]

Hmm... landlocked, kind of like Switzerland? Hungary? Sorry, but it won't work.

My working theory is that the reasons are internal and have to do mostly with Bolivian society. It's a society that is not good for capitalism.

Things can be done in that regard, but electing Morales, who admires Chavez and Castro of all people, isn't going to help.

I think racial segregation is not something that can be helped in Bolivia, better learn to live with it.

[Bosh]

I think racial segregation is not something that can be helped in Bolivia, better learn to live with it.

Now Morales isn't going to do much good for Bolivia but if you have an ethnic majority lording it over the majority you'll either have one of these three:
A. Phony democracy
B. Dictatorships
C. Populists like Morales
until you fix racism and its attendant problems, which are really key in most of the Andean region. It isn't good or natural for a country that's 60% non-white to have its first non-white President after nearly 200 years of independence.

[Dinner]

Geography is not kind to Bolivia but they are their own worst enemies. As stated racism is big and the rich white elites don't want to pay to educate the native masses so the vast majority of the people are almost completely uneducated. The central government choose to invest in the military for decades instead of building roads or railways which would have spurred trade and development and lastly they've just had idiotic trade policies. There used to be sky high tarrifs on everything to discourage imports yet the market was to small to actually get local producers up and running, they wouldn't trade with Chile due to a war which occured in the late 19th century, trade with Brazil would be difficult at best, and Peru was/is a hated former occupier. That only leaves Paraguay and Argentina so they've shot themselves in the foot.

It all just keeps comin back to poor government policies both past and present but it is easier to say the evil foreigners stole everything and are oppressing you then for the government to admit it is crap.

[Barnabas]

Tibet, altough it is no longer independent, would be a much better comparison than switzerland

[VetLegion]

Originally posted by Bosh

Now Morales isn't going to do much good for Bolivia but if you have an ethnic majority lording it over the majority you'll either have one of these three:
A. Phony democracy
B. Dictatorships
C. Populists like Morales
until you fix racism and its attendant problems, which are really key in most of the Andean region. It isn't good or natural for a country that's 60% non-white to have its first non-white President after nearly 200 years of independence.

Well, in Mexico where the whites are a minority, the elite is white. And it's going to stay that way. Effort should be expended to alleviate deprivation of the poor, but not at the expense of the rich. I mean, a redistribution isn't likely going to do much good.

Bolivia should bite the bullet with regards to Chile and start trading with them.

[Chilean Presidentâ„¢]

We gave Bolivia the chance of having a port in the north of Chile which would have been run under Bolivian administration. They could use it to export directly their products without even paying Chilean taxes or doing anything that could bring Chile any profit from their trade opperations. The only thing Chile isn't going to negotiate is the fact of giving Bolivia sovereignity over the port... that's just not going to happen.

Obviously this was rejected by the several Bolivian administrations that have run the country in the last decade.

When President Lagos left office one of the things he regreted the most was the status quo in the relations between both nations. But it's quite hard to negotiate with a country that have 5 different presidents in 6 years or so.