Culture as a Differentiating Factor of the World’s Smallest Economies

Chapter 14 serves as a theoretical introduction to the cultural conditions of the world’s smallest economies. Culture exerts a substantial influence on economic growth and development, alongside traditional factors such as land, raw materials, labor, and capital. A large part of the discussion is devoted to the general definition of the term culture. Furthermore, a typology of the 93 countries analyzed was created based on religious, linguistic, and ethnic similarities. The world’s smallest economies were grouped into eight cultural subgroups, including African, Latin American, Islamic, Pacific, Slavic-Orthodox, Western (European), Buddhist, and Hindu.