Abstract
This paper argues that the central economic problem for a number of very small Pacific Island economies is the preservation and enhancement of their status as rentier societies, and the relatively high living standards ( vis-à- vis other developing countries) which go with the status. The thrust of most development planning in the region, with its focus on “sustainable” expansion of productive activity, is misdirected in these small countries. It is not productive activity, but rent entitlements, which must be sustained and reproduced over time. Aid, philately, and migrant remittances are not merely supplements to local incomes; they are the foundations of the modern economy. Insofar as conventional “development projects” crowd out aid and remittance entitlements, their impact is immiserizing. Criticism is offered of a recent argument for returning to sustainable subsistence economies.
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