Economic Benefits of Export Diversification in Small States

Arnold McIntyre, Mike Xin Li, Ke Wang and Hanlei Yun

No 2018/086, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: The paper considers concepts of economic diversification with respect to exports (including service sectors) for small states. We assessed the economic performance of different groups of 34 small states over the period of 1990-2015 and found those more diversified experienced lower output volatility and higher average growth than most other small states. Our findings are consistent with conventional economic theories but we found that export diversification has a more significant impact on reducing output volatility than improving long run growth in small states. Diversification requires fundamental changes and should be contemplated in the context of a cohesive development strategy.

Keywords: WP; center; diversification; small states; export diversification; economic growth; growth volatility; tourism; diversification measure; export markets diversification; digit export goods; export earnings instability; export basket; Exports; Export earnings; Comparative advantage; Global; Caribbean (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23
Date: 2018-04-11
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=45795 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2018/086

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/pubs/ord_info.htm

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC USA. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Akshay Modi ().