The study of microstates

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to review the main contributions to the study of microstates with particular reference to economic literature. It concludes that, although there is a growing interest in the subject, further work in this area is needed and could lead to fruitful results with wider applications. The definition of small size is of course a relative concept, and it is generally agreed that the use of a single variable for this purpose is too narrow a conception. However, the common factor used by almost all studies which have analyzed the concept of small countries (or small islands) in economic and social terms is the size of the population. Other factors such as energy consumption or even self-perception have been envisaged. Some of the thresholds proposed in this respect are briefly summarized in the Appendix following this paper. For the present discussion on microstates an upper cut-off point of around one million population has been arbitrarily taken.