Abstract EN:

Many of the problems of small island economies are not exclusive to this category of countries, and it has been argued that island countries do not constitute a useful "category". However, there is a good case to think that small island developping countries, in spite of the diversity among them, face certain problems and challenges - or indeed opportunities - which are not shared at least to the same extent, with other countries. Some of their characteristics are linked to small size (of population and/or land area) and some to insularity proper, although the co-incidence between small countries and small island countries is such that it is sometimes difficult to identify clearly whether a particular phenomenon is due to smallness or to insularity. This thesis identifies specific features which small island developping economies have in common and which inevitably leads them to the need for a greater degree of specialization and openess to international trade. We suggest a classification of these countries according to several criteria, then we propose different types of econometric models depending on whether the countries belong to such or such group. This beeing done, the possible application are numerous. We chose the case of reunion island. After building its model, we propose some simulations. It will refer to a few questions related to economic measures and which are of particular interest to reunion island.