And the poor transport links will always make businesses, let alone multinationals, think twice about locating in the area.
ECONOMIST: They want to emulate the boom in the rest of the south-west
Partly because of poor transport, the World Economic Forum's latest travel and tourism competitiveness index ranks Vietnam a lowly 96th out of 130 countries.
ECONOMIST: Tourism could do a lot of good if Vietnam handles it properly
Unable to import easily (because of tariffs and poor transport), Haste has sold one of its factories, sacked 200 people and is shifting production to Ukraine.
Argentina is a vast country, hobbled by poor transport links.
ECONOMIST: Argentina needs to look for models in the right places
Another brake on productivity growth is poor transport infrastructure.
What is absolutely fascinating is that if you dig a little deeper and look at the structural failures that are really holding back the Brazilian economy they are very (almost shockingly) similar to those that plague Russia: high taxes, insufficient investment, inefficient government spending, over-reliance on consumer spending, excessive government red-tape, unreliable courts, poor transport infrastructure, rent-seeking, persistent inflation, high interest rates, and (potential) de-industrialization.
Mr Alexander said the government was working to bring in the scheme because people in the remotest parts of the country were hit by a "triple whammy" of high fuel costs, having to drive long distances and having poor public transport.
Worries over the poor state of transport infrastructure and the lack of affordable housing, which makes it harder to encourage people to work in Cambridge, were also expressed.
The poor state of public transport and infrastructure generally played a large part in the ejection of Labor governments in New South Wales in March and in Victoria last November.
Moreover, if the revenues were used to improve public transport, the poor would benefit disproportionately.
Public transport is generally poor so many Americans have no alternative but to drive.
Of course there are downsides to living in the countryside - with seclusion and space come inevitably higher transport costs, poor mobile phone coverage and slower internet speeds - but the stats defy any notion that the English rural scene is threatened.
However, Matt Hemsley, spokesman for the transport charity Sustrans Cymru, criticised the M4 relief road as "poor value for money", saying investment in public transport would do more to ease congestion.
BBC: M4 relief road: No tolls planned, Welsh government says
They defend rural trains on the grounds that these provide vital transport links for the poor and carless.
The slick new services often don't connect with each other and older public transport systems, leaving poor and working-class people struggling to get to work.
The figures brought criticism from a major rail users group and a warning from Minister of Transport Lord Macdonald that poor performers risked their franchises to run services.
Earlier this year, the assembly backed a motion expressing concern at the "poor state" of the public transport system and seeking a comprehensive and integrated policy to be implemented.
The study found that the health benefits of the policy could be maximized by looking at other barriers to public transport use such as "poor access and inconvenience, ease of car use, and poor pedestrian access of neighbourhoods".
BBC: Free bus passes 'have health benefits', UK study suggests
He said the main issues facing country councils were poor access to services due to lack of public transport in rural areas, extra costs for services and the fact that their problems are less likely to get the attention of policy makers because of the isolated nature of rural communities.
Chinese wages are rising (something which we generally regard as a good thing, poor people making more money is a good thing), transport costs are rising and this changes the calculations about where is the best place to manufacture.
This is not good news, especially for the millions of poor and unemployed already hit by the rising prices of food and transport.
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