For those who haven’t read the article, before talking about the above reasons - which are indeed important - it leads with: "The difference in costs often boi

For those who haven’t read the article, before talking about the above reasons - which are indeed important - it leads with: "The difference in costs often boils down to domestic state capacity: bureaucracies in East Asia and Continental Europe tend to be better-staffed and more empowered to make professional decisions. The details are naturally more complicated, but the pattern is nonetheless clear: the countries with the lowest infrastructure costs are also the countries where the state acts swiftly, with mechanisms that limit the lag between financing and construction."