Small Island States in the Pacific: The Tyranny of Distance
29 Pages Posted: 1 Nov 2012
Date Written: September 2012
This paper seeks to document key characteristics of small island states in the Pacific. It restricts itself to a limited number of indicators which are macro-orientated - population, fertility of land, ability to tap into economies of scale, income, and geographic isolation. It leaves aside equally important but more micro-orientated variables and development indicators. We show that small island states in the Pacific are different from countries in other regional groupings in that they are extremely isolated and have limited scope to tap economies of scale due to small populations. They often have little arable land. There is empirical evidence to suggest that these factors are related to income growth.
Keywords: Small States, Microstate, Economies Of Scale, Geographic Isolation, Agriculture, National Income, Pacific Island Countries
JEL Classification: I32, O11, O18, O40, O56, O57
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