Small Island States in the Pacific: the Tyranny of Distance

Chris Becker

No 2012/223, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: 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: WP; arable land; gross national income; small state sample; small states; growth rate; microstate; economies of scale; geographic isolation; a number of small states; small states in the Pacific; Personal income; National income; Pacific Islands; Caribbean (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28
Date: 2012-09-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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