Policy making in small states : policy makers and their economic environment

Abstract

Once the charm and mystique of small states began to generate interest among scholars, analytical studies focused mainly on the economic environment of small states, with economics being the field of some of the earliest work on small states. It could safely be said that the study of the economics of small states was spearheaded by the 1957 conference of the International Economic Association (IEA), which was mainly devoted to the economic consequences of the size of nations. Nowadays there is an established body of literature mainly exploring the special characteristics of small economies and their implications for economic behaviour and development. But the study of policy making in such states is also becoming a favourite theme for research. This dissertation attempts to investigate three matters: (1) whether there are any special economic conditions, constraints and advantages associated with smallness; (2) the similarities and differences flanked by policy making + the policy maker of a small state vis a vis policy making + the policy maker of a large state; (3) the policy making relationship between the Maltese Politician and the Senior Civil Servant. As shall be pointed out in the Research Methodology, to substantiate the arguments, the author interviewed a number of Ministers/Parliamentary Secretaries, members from the Opposition (MLP), ex-Ministers, Policy Makers, Economists and Permanent Secretaries. A cursory look at the contents page shows that this dissertation, though focused on policy makers and their economic environment, covers a wide variety of themes, including attempts to define smallness, to elicit the economic constraints and advantages associated with small states, and there's also focus on competitiveness. Accompanying the chapters there are two case studies - one examining the Competitive Position of small states in an ever-growing globalized world with fulcrum being the Maltese Islands and the other one assessing policy making in the Maltese Tourism Sector. Both case studies accentuate Malta's position in contrast and/or comparison to other small and/or larger jurisdictions.