Caricom countries and the irrelevance of economic smallness

The pioneers of development argued that natural resources determined a country's economic structure of production. Since a small country would of necessity have a smaller endowment of natural resources than a large country, they further argued that the economic structure of production of a small country would be more concentrated than that of a large country. This article contends that economic smallness is no longer an important determinant of a country's economic structure of production. The global economy is becoming more and more integrated and knowledge skills have become the most important resource in production processes. If, therefore, small countries such as those in Caricom can accumulate in sufficient quantities the appropriate knowledge skills, they can have a diversified economic structure of production by developing new products and services, and by attracting foreign direct investment.