Monetary and Economic Studies Vol.24, No.2 / November 2006

Well-Being in the Small and in the Large

Andrew K. Rose

Is it better to live in a big country than a small one? In this paper, I examine whether economic and social conditions vary systematically with the population of a country. Economics provides a number of theoretical reasons why country size should matter, for instance, because of increasing returns to scale or because it is easier to provide public goods to a larger populace. However, there is little empirical evidence linking the scale of country size to any of a multitude of indicators of economic and social welfare.

Keywords: Population; Empirical; Data; National; Country; Scale; Size


Views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Bank of Japan or Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies.

Copyright © 2006 Bank of Japan All Rights Reserved.

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