Natural Resources and Small Island Economies: Mauritius and Trinidad and Tobago
比较两个初始条件相似但矿产资源禀赋不同的小岛屿经济体，发现政策比规模、孤立和资源禀赋更能决定经济表现。资源贫乏的毛里求斯通过出口制造业消除剩余劳动力，实现多元化和快速增长；资源丰富的特立尼达和多巴哥则因过快吸收租金而阻碍多元化，陷入脆弱繁荣。
Historically, small economies, especially resource-rich ones, underperformed on average relative to their larger counterparts. Small island economies appear still more disadvantaged due to remoteness from both markets and agglomeration economies. Yet a comparison of two small island economies with similar initial conditions other than their mineral endowment suggests that policy outweighs size, isolation and resource endowment in determining economic performance. Resource-poor Mauritius adopted an unfashionable policy of export manufacturing that systematically eliminated surplus labour, which drove economic diversification that sustained rapid GDP growth and political maturation. Like most resource-rich economies, Trinidad and Tobago pursued policies that absorbed rent too rapidly, which impeded diversification and created an illusory prosperity vulnerable to collapse.