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of mercantile and commercial centres and to agriculture and manufactories tapping
new and important regional markets. In terms of the former criteria (size and
structure), though heavily influenced by Chenery and Syrquin 30 , a small sub-group
had to be created because most "small primarily oriented économies" highlighted by
them 31 , were not nearly small enough to make direct comparisons with Cyprus
meaningful (if size is taken to be another key factor affecting economic growth
Potential). Ultimately when considering a very small, open, island economy in a
prime modem entrepôt location, any potential peer group should reflect many of
these regional and geo-political characteristics, most of which will not be captured
by a more generalised régression procedure.
Comparîng other Micro-Economies with Cyprus in 1960
In the 1950's and early 60's Cyprus was a "small primary oriented" 32 economy. If
data from a group of similarly sized and structured économies with similar
background and conditioning factors could be found, their subséquent performance
could give an indication of the Iikely direction of a no war, non-divided Cypriot
economy. It was thought therefore that a "small primary oriented" economy must
have a population of one million or less in 1960 to be similar to Cyprus and that it
must be primarily non-industriai; in 1960 industry accounted for 23% of the workforce
and 17% of Cypriot GDP. Potential peers should also be both investment and
market oriented with average Gross Domestic Investment rates of at least 15% of
GDP between 1951-60 and, particularly given that they are similarly sized
économies, they should be similarly open to international trade with an average
international trading rate of 30% and over of GDP 33 . The involuntary final catch-all
30
Chernery & Syrquin 1975. op. cit., note to table 2, p. 15.
31 ibid.
32 Chernery & Syrquin 1975. op. cit., Table 1, p.9.
33 Imports as a % of GDP 4- exports as a % of GDP / 2.
307