Openness, Country Size and the Government
This paper shows that smaller countries have larger public sectors as a share of GDP, and are also more open to trade. These empirical observations are consistent with recent theoretical models explaining country formation and break up.
Published Versions
Alesina, Alberto and Romain Wacziarg. "Openness, Country Size And Government," Journal of Public Economics, 1998, v69(3,Sep), 305-321. citation courtesy of