Small Countries: Recipes For Economic Success

Abstract

When looking at the world map it is obvious that there is a great variation in size among sovereign countries. However, the variable country size does not play a major role in many branches of economics. Mostly and especially in public economics, we have a middle-sized country in mind when we try to arrive at general arguments about reform and change. This neglects the possible economic impact of country size. Of course, international economics cares about country size in distinguishing between countries, e.g., those able to influence world prices, and those that cannot. The latter are generally considered to be of lesser significance, at least in terms of this variable. Most economists would however agree that we rarely analyze the economic impact of size. What do we learn from looking more carefully at the economics of small nations? The article, based upon a speech delivered by the author, addresses this question and others related to the topic.