Anton T. Koychev

Erbor Kulla

Ignas Brasauskas

Paul M. Sommers

English

Research Papers in Economics

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869IS GEOGRAPHY DESTINY?
by
Anton T. Koychev
Erbor Kulla
Ignas Brazauskas
Paul M. Sommers
Department of Economics
Middlebury College
Middlebury, Vermont 05753
JEL #: R12IS GEOGRAPHY DESTINY?
Why the productive capacity of some nations is so much greater than that of
others largely depends on a country’s proximity to a coastline.  Are landlocked countries
“prisoners of geography” [Hausmann, Foreign Policy, January 2001, p. 45]?
We define a Coastine Index (hereafter, C-Index) which is equal to the length of a
country’s coastline divided by its total border length (see www.geographyiq.com.) When
the estimated 2000 GDP per capita of 176 countries (with a GDP over $1 billion) is
regressed against the C-Index and eight regional dummy variables, the coefficient on the
C-Index is positive and significant at better than the .0001 level.
The mean GDP per capita of countries with a C-Index above .75 was greater than
that of countries with a smaller C-Index in the following regions: Europe (p = .0088);
South America (p = .039); Middle East (p = .027); and Central and Southeast Asia (p =
.0037).  For countries in North and Central America, the difference in average GDP per
capita of countries with a C-Index above and below .50 was significant at the .0006 level.
And, in African countries with a C-Index above and below .33 the corresponding
difference was significant at the .076 level.

Is Geography Destiny?

http://www.middlebury.edu/services/econ/repec/mdl/ancoec/0302.pdf

Is Geography Destiny?

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