Description
Small developing states tend to be inherently prone to exogenous shocks over which they can exercise very little control. In the main, such proneness emanates from the small states’ structural trade openness and their very high dependence on a narrow range of exports. There are a number of small developing states that, in spite of their inherent economic vulnerability, manage to generate a relatively high GDP per capita when compared with other developing countries. This can be ascribed to economic resilience building associated with policy-induced measures that enable a country to recover from or adjust to the negative impacts of adverse exogenous shocks and to benefit from positive shocks.
The main argument put forward in this book is that economic resilience can be built through appropriate policy interventions in four principal areas, namely macroeconomic stability, microeconomic market efficiency, good governance and social development.
This publication is yet another outcome of a collaborative project between the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Islands and Small States Institute of the University. The project is aimed at developing the conceptual underpinnings of economic resilience and at deriving a sound basis for its measurement. This work has resulted in the publication of four books, including this one, and the development of an Economic Resilience index, based on internationally-comparable data and covering a wide cross-section of countries. It is planned that this project will be further developed through the undertaking of country-specific case studies which may serve as examples of best practice conducive to economic resilience building.
Published by the Islands and Small States Institute, Malta and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Contents
The Authors
1. Introduction Lino Briguglio, Gordon Cordina, Nadia Farrugia and Constance Vigilance
Part 1. Macroeconomic Policy
2. Macroeconomic Stability and Economic Resilience in Small States: The Role of Macroeconomic Policies Lawrence Schembri
3. Government Expenditure, Debt and Fiscal Adjustment in Small States Stephanie Medina Cas and Rui Ota
4. The Role of Fiscal Policy in Resilience Building: Experiences of Pacific Island Countries T.K. Jayaraman
5. CARICOM’s Orientation in External Trade Negotiations and Resilience Building Claudius Preville
Part 2. Market Efficiency
6. Economic Resilience and Market Efficiency in Small States Gordon Cordina
7. Private Sector Development and Micro-enterprises in Small States Stephanie Vella
8. International Labour Mobility for Resilience Building in Microstates Satish Chand
9. Bridling Market Dominance: A View From Jamaica Barbara Lee
Part 3. Good Governance
10. Building Good Governance and Economic Resilience in Small States Paul Sutton
11. Small States, Resilience and Governance Yiagadeesen Samy, David Carment, Stewart Prest and Jean Francois Gagné
12. Governance Issues in the Pacific Island Countries Mahendra Reddy
Part 4. Social and Environmental Issues
13. Poverty, Migration and Economic Resilience in Small Island Developing States John Connell
14. Social Cohesion, Governance and Social Development in Small States Naren Prasad
15. Income Distribution, Social Cohesion and Economic Resilience Jean Paul Fabri and Alexia Pizzuto
16. Sustainable Development and Economic Resilience With Special Reference to Malta Lino Briguglio
Part 5. The Role of International Organisations
17. Small States and the Commonwealth Secretariat Constance Vigilance
18. Finding Answers to the Concerns of Small, Vulnerable Economies in the Doha Round Hans-Peter J. Werner
Part 6. Composite Indices
19. Conceptual and Practical Issues in Constructing Composite Indices Nadia Farrugia
20. Methodological Issues in the Construction of Composite Indices: A Case Study of the Human Development Index Mark McGillivray, Farhad Noorbakhsh and Beris Gwynne
Subject Index