The State, Human Development and the Economics of Cocaine: The Case of Bolivia

The state in Bolivia is weak in the sense that it has not been able to organize economic development on a sustained basis or to ensure that the benefits of development reach those most in need. The economy of Bolivia is the poorest in South America. In 1988 its per capita GNP as officially measured was $570. The average income of the next poorest country on the South American mainland, Ecuador, was 96 per cent higher than Bolivia’s. In a world context Bolivia is classified as a middle income developing country but its average life expectancy at birth of 53 years would place it among the very poorest countries in the world.1 Human development evidently has not kept pace even with the modest progress the country has experienced in expanding material production, and in recent years there has been economic and social retrogression. Indeed the country has been in a severe economic crisis for a decade and GNP per capita is lower today than it was in 1965, a quarter of a century ago.