Island Studies

The main of this article is to analyse the evolution of Cape Verdean economy and find a binding constraint to economic growth, using the technique “growth diagnostic” proposed by Hausmann et al. (2005). The real GDP per capita in Cape Verde increased from US$ 806 in 1970 to US$ 2.830 in 2011, with average annual growth rate of 3.3%. The service sector was the main share in GDP production side. Cape Verdean economy presents great dependence of external capital and, despite the considerable growth, the unemployment rate remains high and public debt is high but sustainable. We found some factors that constitute constraints to economic growth, as weak financial intermediation, poor infrastructure, high costs in the inter-island connections and strong deviation between the human capital needs and areas of formation of secondary and tertiary education. Thus, government policies should be aimed at overcoming these barriers.

Este artigo utiliza o modelo HRV proposto por Hausmann, Rodrik e Velasco (2005) para fazer um diagnóstico da economia Cabo-verdiana. O PIB per capita real em Cabo Verde passou de US$806 em 1970, para US$2,830 em 2011, o que representa uma taxa média anual de crescimento de 3,3%. O setor dos serviços é o principal impulsionador da economia em Cabo Verde. A economia cabo-verdiana está fortemente dependente do capital externo e, apesar do crescimento económico considerável, a taxa de desemprego permanece alta e a dívida pública é elevada. Os principais fatores identificados como barreira ao investimento/crescimento em Cabo Verde foram: fraca intermediação financeira, infraestruturas deficientes, altos custos nas ligações entre as ilhas e forte desvio entre as necessidades do mercado e as áreas de formação do capital humano. As políticas do governo devem ser no sentido de ultrapassar estes constrangimentos.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze empirically if the effect of environmental vulnerability on economic growth is conditioned by country size. Two groups of countries, large and small, were set up, and by using the System-GMM estimator and panel data in a 5-year rolling window, from 1970 to 2010, the impact of number of people killed or affected and cost of the disaster on growth rate of GDP per capita of the two groups of states was estimated. Also, the difference between small and large states in terms of the channels of transmission of the variables of interest was analyzed. Many studies consider small countries more vulnerable to natural disasters than large countries but this study indicates that, on average, large countries suffer more natural disasters than small countries and in terms of the effect of environmental vulnerability on growth rate of GDP per capita, there is no difference between small countries and large countries. Productivity is the main channel of trans...

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.

The Pacific Island Countries including the Fiji Islands are heavily dependent on imported petroleum fuels for their energy needs. This is a major cause of environmental vulnerability as well as economic vulnerability due to high and volatile crude oil prices. A combination of Demand Side Management (DSM) to reduce energy consumption and optimize usage, and Renewable Energy Technologies (RET) to substitute fossil fuels can reduce their vulnerability. DSM consists of Smart Grids, Energy Efficiency and Storage, while RETs substitute fossil fuels by harnessing solar, wind, small hydro, biomass, geothermal and ocean energies. Comparative costs of electricity from RETs show that most of them are cheaper than the typical price of electricity in Pacific island countries.

Nearly half of Fiji’s electricity is generated using petroleum fuels that can be substituted by biodiesel produced from locally grown coconuts. To evaluate the sustainability of coconut biodiesel, two different Environmental Accounting methods have been used:  i) Emergy Analysis, and  ii) Embodied Energy Analysis.  Emergy Analysis is a holistic methodology that integrates all major inputs from the human economy and those coming ‘free’ from the environment, to evaluate complex systems. Emergy Performance Indicators for coconut biodiesel are:  i) Emergy Yield Ratio is 1.32 indicating a low ability to exploit local resources efficiently;  ii) Environmental Loading Ratio is 8.57 implying that biodiesel production causes significant environmental or ecosystem stress; and  iii) Emergy Index of Sustainability is 0.15 indicating a low contribution to the economy per unit of environmental loading and a very high degree of environmental stress per unit of Emergy yield. Embodied Energy Analysis is a complimentary methodology that accounts for only the commercial energy (in kgs oil equivalent) required directly or indirectly to provide all the inputs (goods and services) for the entire biodiesel production process. Embodied Energy Performance Indicators are:  i) Energy Return on Energy Invested is 2.47 which means that it is not worth the effort in energetic terms; and  ii) Carbon dioxide Emissions during the production of coconut biodiesel is 1.38 kg CO2  per kg biodiesel showing that biodiesel is not  climate neutral.

This thesis adds to the growing body of knowledge that uses Emergy Analysis to evaluate sustainability of biofuels and other renewable energy options in a holistic manner.  This is the first time in reported literature that Emergy Analysis has been used to determine the sustainability of coconut biodiesel. The Emergy and Embodied Energy performance indicators clearly show that coconut biodiesel is not a sustainable alternate source of energy for the Fiji Islands.