Protectionism in (pre-reform) Ghana
Corruption and bureaucracy in Peru
These gems are from Chapter 11 of Easterly's The Elusive Quest for Growth. Having finished it, my previous thoughts on the book stand. After Chapter 6, Chapter 11 is easily the second best of the book.
The Ghanaians were so eager to have domestic automobile production that they imported kits with a complete set of auto parts from Yugoslavia. They then assembled the cars and sold them. But the international price at which they bought the kits was greater than the international price of the fully assembled vehicle!
Corruption and bureaucracy in Peru
Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto registered a small clothing factory in Lima as an experiment and decided in advance not to pay bribes. During the time it took to get registered, government officials asked for bribes ten times. In two cases, he had to break his own rule and pay the bribes, or the experiment would have come to a halt. In the end, it took ten months to register the clothing factory. A similar procedure takes four hours in New York.
These gems are from Chapter 11 of Easterly's The Elusive Quest for Growth. Having finished it, my previous thoughts on the book stand. After Chapter 6, Chapter 11 is easily the second best of the book.
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