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A new cross-country database on services policy reveals a perverse pattern: many landlocked countries restrict trade in the very services that connect them with the rest of the world. On average, telecommunications and air-transport policies are significantly more restrictive in landlocked countries than elsewhere. The phenomenon is most starkly visible in Sub-Saharan Africa and is associated with lower levels of political accountability. This paper finds evidence that these policies lead to more concentrated market structures and more limited access to services than these countries would otherwise have, even after taking into account the influence of geography and incomes, and the possibility that policy is endogenous. Even moderate liberalization in these sectors could lead to an increase of cellular subscriptions by 7 percentage points and a 20-percent increase in the number of flights. Policies in other countries, industrial and developing alike, also limit competition in international transport services. Hence, "trade-facilitating" investments under various "aid-for-trade" initiatives are likely to earn a low return unless they are accompanied by meaningful reform in these services sectors.

Economic Theory & Research --- ICT Policy and Strategies --- International Economics & Trade --- Landlocked countries --- Markets and Market Access --- Public Sector Corruption & Anticorruption Measures --- Services trade policy --- Telecommunications --- Transport --- Transport Economics Policy & Planning

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There is significant academic evidence that growth in one country tends to have a positive impact on growth in neighboring countries. This paper contributes to this literature by assessing whether growth spillovers tend to vary significantly across world regions and by investigating the contribution of transport and communication infrastructure in promoting neighborhood effects. The study is global, but the main interest is on Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors define neighborhoods both in geographic terms and by membership in the same regional trade association. The analysis finds significant evidence for heterogeneity in growth spillovers, which are strong between OECD countries and essentially absent in Sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis further finds strong interaction between infrastructure and being a landlocked country. This suggests that growth spillovers from regional "success stories" in Sub-Saharan Africa and other lagging world regions will depend on first strengthening the channels through which such spillovers can spread - most importantly infrastructure endowments.

Absolute terms --- Achieving Shared Growth --- Country Strategy & Performance --- Developing countries --- Developing world --- Development report --- Development research --- Development strategy --- Economic development --- Economic Growth --- Economic growth --- Economic Theory & Research --- Economics --- Empirical evidence --- Empirical growth literature --- Empirical literature --- Growth rates --- Growth regressions --- Income levels --- Industrialized countries --- Landlocked countries --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Policy research --- Poverty Reduction --- Rich countries --- Significant evidence --- Transport --- Transport Economics Policy & Planning

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Improving logistics performance is at the core of the economic growth and competitiveness agenda. Policymakers globally recognize the logistics sector as one of their key pillars for development. Trade powerhouses in Europe like the Netherlands or in developing countries like Vietnam or Indonesia see seamless and sustainable logistics as an engine of growth and of integration with global value chains. Indeed, inefficient logistics raises the costs of trading and reduces the potential for global integration. This is a hefty burden for developing countries trying to compete in the global marketplace. Since 2007, the Logistics Performance.

Airports --- Audits --- Best Practices --- Business Environment --- Common Carriers Industry --- Communications Technology --- Customs Procedures --- Debt --- Demographics --- Developed Countries --- E-Business --- Economic Development --- Economics --- Environment --- Global Economy --- Hardware --- Industry --- Landlocked Countries --- Maritime Transport --- Outsourcing --- Private Sector --- Private Sector Development --- Railways --- Risk Management --- Technical Assistance --- Terrorism --- Transaction Costs --- Transparency --- Transport --- Transport and Trade Logistics --- Transport Economics Policy and Planning --- Value Chains

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This is the first report presenting the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) and indicators. It aims to shed light on how different countries are doing in the area of trade logistics, and what they can do to improve their performance. It is based on a worldwide survey of the global freight forwarders and express carriers who are the most active in international trade. LPI and its underlying indicators constitute a unique dataset to measure country performance across several dimensions of logistics and to benchmark that logistics performance against 150 countries. It provides the empirical basis to understand and compare differences in trade logistics as well as to inform policy with respect to difficult bottlenecks and tradeoffs. As a tool for policymakers, professionals, development agencies, and other stakeholders, it will directly support the fast-growing agenda for reforms and investments in trade and transport facilitation. The report provides some insights on the cost of poor logistics to country competitiveness and the sources of those higher costs. Beyond cost and time taken to deliver goods, the predictability and reliability of supply chains is increasingly important in a world of just-in-time production sharing. Costs related to hedging against uncertainty are significant. Equally, cost and quality of logistics are determined not just by infrastructure and the performance of public agencies, but also by the availability of quality and competitive private services. Moreover, in many developing countries, problems of adverse geography are compounded by a weak modern services sector due to poor institutions or over-regulation. The report closes with some practical insights, advocating a comprehensive, integrated approach to ensure that actions in one area are not rendered ineffective by bottlenecks in another.

Business Environment --- Common Carriers Industry --- Customs Procedures --- Data analysis --- E-Business --- Economic Development --- Economies of Scale --- Foreign Direct Investment --- Fraud --- Freight Transport --- Global Economy --- Globalization --- Industry --- Information Technology --- Innovation --- Landlocked Countries --- Law Enforcement --- Marketing --- Multimedia --- Ports --- Private Sector --- Private Sector Development --- Productivity --- Property Rights --- Roads --- Telecommunications --- Transit Countries --- Transparency --- Transport --- Transport and Trade Logistics --- Transport Costs

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There is significant academic evidence that growth in one country tends to have a positive impact on growth in neighboring countries. This paper contributes to this literature by assessing whether growth spillovers tend to vary significantly across world regions and by investigating the contribution of transport and communication infrastructure in promoting neighborhood effects. The study is global, but the main interest is on Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors define neighborhoods both in geographic terms and by membership in the same regional trade association. The analysis finds significant evidence for heterogeneity in growth spillovers, which are strong between OECD countries and essentially absent in Sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis further finds strong interaction between infrastructure and being a landlocked country. This suggests that growth spillovers from regional "success stories" in Sub-Saharan Africa and other lagging world regions will depend on first strengthening the channels through which such spillovers can spread - most importantly infrastructure endowments.

Absolute terms --- Achieving Shared Growth --- Country Strategy & Performance --- Developing countries --- Developing world --- Development report --- Development research --- Development strategy --- Economic development --- Economic Growth --- Economic growth --- Economic Theory & Research --- Economics --- Empirical evidence --- Empirical growth literature --- Empirical literature --- Growth rates --- Growth regressions --- Income levels --- Industrialized countries --- Landlocked countries --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Policy research --- Poverty Reduction --- Rich countries --- Significant evidence --- Transport --- Transport Economics Policy & Planning