How fast are small tourism countries growing? Evidence from the data for 1980–2003 (original) (raw)
We analyze the empirical relationship between growth, country size and tourism specialization by using a dataset covering the period 1980-2003. We find that tourism countries are small and grow significantly faster than all the other subgroups considered in our analysis. Tourism appears to be an independent determining factor for growth: controlling for initial per-capita income and for trade openness does not weaken the positive correlation between tourism specialization and growth. Another finding of our paper is that small states are fast growing only when are highly specialized in tourism. In contrast with some previous conclusions in the literature, smallness per se is not good for growth. the participants to the conferences held in Cagliari, Palma de Mallorca and Corte. Special thanks for helpful suggestions at the early stages of the research go to Luca De Benedictis. Research assistance by Maria Ester Cassinelli is gratefully acknowledged. Two anonymous referees provided comments that enhanced the exposition of the paper. The usual disclaimer applies for any remaining error.
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.