Resource Endowment, Institutional Quality, and Ease of Doing Business as Drivers of Economic Outcomes in Landlocked Economies | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Resource Endowment, Institutional Quality, and Ease of Doing Business as Drivers of Economic Outcomes in Landlocked Economies Negussie Gebrue, Jayamohan MK, Belayneh Anagaw This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8430952/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Landlocked countries face distinct physical and institutional challenges that significantly influence their economic growth trajectories. This study analyzes the factors driving growth in 44 landlocked nations from 1998 to 2023, considering their vulnerability to global shocks. The results indicate that institutional quality and the Ease of Doing Business (EDB) index are crucial drivers of growth. Specifically, political stability and lower levels of violence strongly promote growth. At the same time, higher business costs, as reflected in the EDB index, tend to decrease GDP per capita growth—mainly by deterring foreign direct investment. Policy recommendations emphasize strengthening institutions and the business environment, investing in human capital and technology, and leveraging trade liberalization and containerization to foster sustainable growth in landlocked least developed countries. Landlockedness ease of doing business institutional quality GDP per capita growth Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8430952","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":578569764,"identity":"4fbcd232-f6b3-4f1d-8f09-bb9d4ed749fc","order_by":0,"name":"Negussie 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