Country Size and Determinants of Economic Growth: A Survey with Special Interest on Small States

This paper surveys the literature on country size and economic growth, focusing on research on small states. The paper first analyzes theoretical and empirical effects of country size on economic growth. Furthermore, the paper surveys some empirical studies on the determinants of economic growth, with special reference to small states. Theoretical studies consider small size a disadvantage, but there is no consensus in empirical studies on the effects of country size on economic growth. However, there´s a certain consensus in identifying the geographic distance from major markets as a principal determinant of economic growth in small states