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many supported early on by the Rockefeller Foundation—have had a remarkable impact on the disease burden in the region. These programs have included control of yellow fever in the early 1940s, the elimination of the malaria-carrying Anopheles gambiae mosquito in Brazil in the 1930s, and hookworm control in the 1920s. The Rockefeller Foundation also supported agricultural research in Mexico in the 1940s that eventually became CYMMIT, bringing elements of the Green Revolution to Latin America. The foundation funded the respected CIAT agricultural research institute in Colombia and others in the region. Although many of these health and agricultural organizations and initiatives continue to contribute influential research, some of the technological challenges posed by geographical and ecological conditions in Latin America today require investments beyond their reach. Besides, they may lack the comparative advantage to develop certain products or technologies developed by private high-technology firms. With regard to malaria, for example, Jeffrey Sachs has suggested a coordinated pledge by rich countries promising an attractive market to the firm that succeeds in developing the vaccine.63 A guaranteed minimum purchase price or fixed amount per dose would be paid when the vaccine actually exists. Similar pledges could spur cures for other diseases such as tuberculosis, or for the development of crop varieties or agricultural technologies adequate to the geographical and climatic conditions of the poor countries. Of course, there are other forms of international cooperation that could promote these advances. Depending on the scale, the type of externalities of the problem, and the likely costs of finding a solution, cooperation might be most effective at either the subregional, regional or global level. It may also require the involvement of international organizations, some of which could also play a role in identifying global and regional priorities in health and agriculture and in mobilizing private sector research and development. New telecommunications technologies and the Internet may also play a future role in reducing the significance of geographical barriers. Although these advances could reduce isolation, however, they most likely will benefit already accessible locations at least as much. And despite the dramatically lower user
cost of modern telecommunications, a large initial investment in infrastructure investment is required. One might have expected similar revolutionary change in access from the telephone, but it has not made geographical barriers obsolete. One key area where the use of new technologies could bring dramatic improvements is in development of emergency communications systems for disaster-prone areas. More effective emergency communications would lessen the human and economic costs associated with disasters by providing populations with early warnings and by facilitating communication with isolated areas in the aftermath of disasters. Information and Market Signals Because many Latin American countries are so geographically diverse, different regions within a country may offer very marked comparative advantages or disadvantages for certain activities. The yield from investments in infrastructure or health care interventions, for example, may differ dramatically from one zone to another and between different-sized cities and towns because of population settlement patterns. Disaster prevention efforts may be best directed to certain locations because they are more prone to hurricanes, floods or earthquakes. Keeping these geographical variables in mind when developing a range of economic and social policies requires good information, which is unlikely to be provided by the market of its own accord given the nature of information as a public good. Some of the larger Latin American countries have geographical and statistical institutes primarily devoted to gathering information on the human and geographical factors that affect development. The Institute Brasileiro de Geografia (IBGE) and Mexico's Institute Nacional de Estadistica, Geografia e Informatica (INEGI) enjoy international prestige for their technical and analytical ability. Nevertheless, such efforts are just beginning in many countries where the agencies responsible are not guided by clear economic and social policy objectives and do not provide significant support to policymakers. Hence, geographical considerations often are not factored into decisions on infra-
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Sachs (1999, pp. 17-20).
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Geography and Development