Bolivia: Geografía Y Desarrollo Económico

Inter-American Development Bank
Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
Latin American Research Network
Red de Centros de Investigación
Research Network Working paper #R-387

Bolivia: Geografía y Desarrollo
Económico

por

Rolando Morales*
Erwin Galoppo*
Luis Carlos Jemio*
María Carmen Choque*
Natacha Morales*
*Ciess-Econométrica

Abril 2000

Cataloging-in-Publication dataprovided by the
Inter-American Development Bank
Felipe Herrera Library

Bolivia : geografía y desarrollo económico / por Rolando Morales … [et al.].
p. cm. (Research Network working paper ; R-387)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Bolivia--Economic conditions. 2. Economic development--Bolivia--Effect of
Geography on. 3. Economic geography. I. Morales, Rolando. II. Inter-AmericanDevelopment Bank. Research Dept. III. Series.
330.9084 B826--dc21

82000
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Las opiniones y puntos de vista expresados en este documento son del autor y no reflejan
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Si desea obtener una lista de los documentos de trabajo del Departamento de Investigación,visitenuestra página Internet al: http://www.iadb.org/res/32.htm

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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to identify the main relationship between economic development and
geography at the province level in Bolivia. To achieve this, we study simultaneously the relationship
between an index of basic needs insatisfaction (NBI), as a measure of human capital, and GDP per
capita withgeographical, demographical, institutional and structural economic variables. The
estimation of GDP per capita for 112 provinces was carried out by estimating total wages based on
employment surveys data and on GDP data available at department level.
The main findings of this research are: a) Geographical variables matter in the explanation of NBI,
labor income and GDP per capita disparities amongprovinces, especially altitude, erosion,
urbanization rate and the distance toward the main cities of the central axis of the country (La Paz,
Cochabamba, Santa Cruz). The main channels for this are the effects of geographical variables on
land and labour productivity; b) The location of mine resources also explains province disparities, c)
Transportation costs matter concerning economic activityof the private sector. The effects of
geography on labour productivity are widely influenced by the people's choice of province to live in.
And this choice is strongly correlated with their education level.
Bolivia is one of the poorest countries of Latin America; its development problems are complex and
difficult to solve. Related to those developed in this research, we find that appropriatepolicies for
promoting human development, migration and increasing land productivity can help to attain higher
development levels and reduce provincial disparities.

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CONTENIDO
CAPITULO I. INTRODUCCION ................................................................................................................. 6
CAPITULO II. GEOGRAFIA Y POBLACION.................................................................................................. 8
1. Principales características biofísicas ........................................................................................................ 8
2. Población y Ocupación del territorio. ...................................................................................................... 9
3. Uso de la tierra en actividadesagropecuarias ......................................................................................... 11
4. Potencial de uso de la tierra en la agricultura ......................................................................................... 12
5. Tenencia de la propiedad agropecuaria .................................................................................................. 13
6....