New technologies promise not just big improvements in local efficiency, but also the further and potentially bigger gains that flow from an infinitely denser network of connections, electronic and otherwise, with the developed world.

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Washington-centric bureaucracies staffed by cronies and incompetents overwhelmed the efficiency of local offices, often closing them down.

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But this research also shows that other factors, such as government economic policies, local enterprise, the efficiency of public administration and the amount of foreign direct investment are just as important in raising economic performance.

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