This Shit Is Bananas

Friend of Reason and Undercover Economist Tim Harford has a good New York Times op-ed on what governments in the developing world can do to help their export industries without waiting for WTO negotiations to conclude. He notes that if a banana grower in the Central African Republic wants to export his fruit, it will take "116 days, and an incredible 38 signatures—each one an opportunity for some official to collect a bribe."