Resources
Land
(figures/info from factbook)
- total: 1,098,581 sq km 28th in comparison to the world
- 0 km of coastline (landlocked)
- Climate: varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid
- Terrain: rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills, lowland plains of the Amazon Basin
- Current Environment issues: the clearing of land for agricultural purposes and the international demand for tropical timber are contributing to deforestation; soil erosion from overgrazing and poor cultivation methods (including slash-and-burn agriculture); desertification; loss of biodiversity; industrial pollution of water supplies used for drinking and irrigation
- Natural hazards: flooding in the northeast (March to April)
volcanism volcanic activity in Andes Mountains on the border with Chile; historically active volcanoes in this region are Irruputuncu (elev. 5,163 m), which last erupted in 1995, and Olca-Paruma - Natural resources: tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower
Analysis: Despite having large
amounts of land I think this resources is actually a weakness for these
reasons:
- Roughly a third of the country is rugged terrain
- The forest areas are being destroyed for lumber exports of tropical timber
- The area that is farmable is not being used properly and the soil is eroding (factbook: permanent crops: 0.2%)
- They are also polluting some of their fresh water sources limiting themselves in this area as well
- They must compete with annual floods and deal with volcanic activity (factbook: last eruption being in 1995)
- Finally on a lighter note they do possess natural gas and petroleum, but these like their timber are finite resources and will eventually run dry and that is why land is a weakness for them.
Labor
(figures/info from
factbook):
- Population: 10,631,486 (July 2014 est.)
- Population growth rate: 1.6% (2014 est.)
- Sanitation Facility access: urban: 57.5% of population, rural: 23.7% of population,
total: 46.4% of population - Major disease: degree of risk: very high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea and hepatitis A
vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and yellow fever (2013) - Underweight Children: 4.5% (2008)
- Obesity: 17.9% (2008)
- Child Labor: total number: 553,323
- Literacy: total population over the age of 15 91.2%
- Education: total: 13 years
- Education expenditures: 6.9% of GDP (2011) 24th in world
Analysis: I think Labor is a weak
point to this country because:
- Their population is roughly 10million (factbook) though it is rising at a rate of 1.6%
- The majority of their population are of the ages 5-29
- The Literacy rate is only roughly 90% of the population by the age of 15. Meaning that there are still 1 million people who cannot read and write by the age of 15.
- The average years of education completed was only 13 years
- There is a high disease rate and some of which can be deadly including, malaria and yellow fever.
- They use child labor which may lack skill due to inexperience and previously stated lack of education.
Capital
(figures/info from factbook):
- Natural gas production: 54.37 billion cu m (2013 est.) 17th in World
- Crude oil production: 51,200 bbl/day (2013 est.) 60th in World
- Electricity production: 7.375 billion kWh (2013 est.) 103rd in the World
- Telephones: 880,600 (2012) 80th in World
- Cellular Phone: 9.494 million (2012) 82nd in the World
- Airports: 855 (2013) 7th in the world (834 are unpaved)
- Railways: total: 3,652 km 48th
- Roadways: total: 80,488 km 59th (68,495 km unpaved)
- No nuclear power
- Fossil Fuels: 63.6% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
- Hydroelectric Fuels: 34.9% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
- Renewable Fuels: 1.5% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Analysis: I believe that capital
is a strong resource for Bolivia for these reasons:
- While the majority of the airports aren’t paved they still have more than almost every other country in the world
- They don’t import or export any electricity, but they do use some sorts of renewable energy and more than a 3rd of their electricity comes from hydroelectric sources.
- Railways and roadways are also both in the higher percentage for the world even though nearly three fourths of the roads aren’t paved
- Their natural gas production is one of the highest in the world and their export is even higher ranked 10th
- Their main flaw in capital may be communication but even that is above average on the world scale.
- In all I believe capital is a strong resource for Bolivia
Entrepreneurship
This chart shows the entrepreneurial intrest of the country on a scale of 100
(figures/info from Index of
Economic Freedom):
- Rule of Law: The government is very corrupt and has mismanaged many things regarding the economy in recent events
- Limited Government: Among taxes applied to business there are, income tax, corporate tax, value added tax, and transaction tax
- Regulatory efficiency: regulatory framework, lingering bureaucracy and lack of transparency often make the formation and operation of private enterprises costly and burdensome. Fuel prices, subsidized and controlled by the government, are frozen for years at a time. Electricity is also subsidized.
- Open Markets: Bolivia has a 3.7 percent average tariff rate. Piracy and counterfeiting are not uncommon. The financial sector remains vulnerable to state interference, with credit to the private sector expanding slowly.
Analysis: Bolivia’s entrepreneurial
ability is definitely weak for many reasons including:
- A heavenly corrupt and socialistic government
- There are a numerous number of taxes for businesses and corporations
- There are many hoops and hurtles to jump through while trying to establish private enterprise
- Both fuel and electricity are subsidized by the government so there is little profit for privateers in these areas
- They have issues with both piracy and counterfeiting
- In all this is a terrible place for an entrepreneur to start a business
Changing Resources
For the resource change in my
country I picked the legalization of child labor.
My reasoning for this is because despite the controversy behind it, it will increase the labor force by adding children over the age of 10 to it. There are still some stipulations as the article mentions some dangerous jobs will still be off limit to children. These jobs include things such as working in the mines where working conditions are harsh and can be life threatening or altering. It also limits children from working independently they must report to someone. Sense children are already working in this country this mainly gives them a “legal leg to stand on” in cases of abuse by the employer. It is also in place to try and protect children from being taken advantage of or forced into harmful situations. Even though child labor was already at work in this country it was not legal which limited the places children could work, but now they will be able to get jobs that more benefit the economy and country. I think legalizing this will increase the labor force of the country thus increasing the economy.
My reasoning for this is because despite the controversy behind it, it will increase the labor force by adding children over the age of 10 to it. There are still some stipulations as the article mentions some dangerous jobs will still be off limit to children. These jobs include things such as working in the mines where working conditions are harsh and can be life threatening or altering. It also limits children from working independently they must report to someone. Sense children are already working in this country this mainly gives them a “legal leg to stand on” in cases of abuse by the employer. It is also in place to try and protect children from being taken advantage of or forced into harmful situations. Even though child labor was already at work in this country it was not legal which limited the places children could work, but now they will be able to get jobs that more benefit the economy and country. I think legalizing this will increase the labor force of the country thus increasing the economy.