In the last few years, new empirical research carried out by the Center for
International Development at Harvard University has confirmed all the above mentioned
information. As its director, Jeffrey D. Sachs, stated in 2000 ‘Most recent
cross-country analysis of economic growth has neglected physical geography as
a determinant of economic growth’. Gallup et al. (1999) concluded that ‘location
and climate have large effects on income levels and income growth, through
their effects on transport costs, disease burdens and agricultural productivity’.
Mellinger et al. (1999) using a global analysis with a Geographical Information
System has concluded that ‘GDP per capita and the spatial density of economic
activity measured as GDP per km2 are high in temperate ecozones and in regions
proximate to the sea’. Voortman et al. (2000) proved that the usual approach of