Question

Refer to the four traps in the reading/discussion that the make it difficult for the "bottom billion" to get out of impoverishment.

Choose one (1) trap and research on a country which contains the “Bottom Billion” that experienced/is experiencing that 'trap'.

Discuss in 15-25 sentences. Cite your references.

Guide Questions: -How did it affect their country? (economy, welfare of the people, relations with other countries, etc.)

-What were their attempts to address it? -Did they overcome at least some of the problems? Are they still trapped? Is it continuing to worsen?

Answer 1

The world’s poorest countries, a group of 58 nations with roughly a billion people, have some distinctive things in common. While the rest of the world has been getting richer, they have been getting poorer. Their decline is absolute, not merely relative. Some, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are economically worse off now than in 1960 or 1970. These countries are caught in one or more of four traps: the “conflict trap,” “the natural resource trap,” the trap of being “landlocked with bad neighbors” and of “bad governance in a small country.”

“The Bad Governance in a Small Country Trap”

Good governance can help growth somewhat, but poor governance can utterly wreck an economy. The importance of governance depends to some extent on a nation’s opportunities. Bangladesh is about as corrupt as Chad. Both have low incomes, but
Bangladesh has grown more rapidly, because it has few natural resources and a good coastline. Labor-intensive exports have been its route to growth. Chad is landlocked, with oil wells and aid – both of which can bring on the Dutch disease. Because of the
impact of these traps, poor governance does more damage in Chad than equally bad governance does in Bangladesh. Some countries experience the consequences of poor governance, from brain drain
to looted treasuries, yet they still change for the better. Others remain locked in poor governance, in part because elites may benefit from bad policies. For instance, bureaucrats can profit by taking bribes to cut through red tape. In part, this is because the poorest countries have fewer people with the education and skills to improve their governance. Many of the poorest countries are failing states. Turnarounds are difficult,
risky and unlikely, but possible. Because failing states impose costs beyond their borders, supporting turnarounds is good for other countries. “The cost of a single failing state over its entire history of failure, to itself and its neighbors, is around $100 billion.”