As an Econ grad I love stories like this.
The story of the Honduran railroad epitomises life on the isthmus. In 1870, the government hired an engineer named John C. Trautwine to lay track from Puerto Cortes on the Atlantic to the Bay of Fonseca on the Pacific, but made the mistake of paying him by the mile. When the project went bust in 1880, Honduras was left with sixty miles of track that wandered aimlessly here and there through the lowlands.
That's from The Fish That Ate The Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King by Rich Cohen. Fantastic book.
Never forget the power of incentives. There's a reason that Warren Buffett himself puts together the incentive schemes for Berkshire Hathaway managers - it's hugely important and he doesn't trust anyone else to do it.