5 Bizarre Ways Small Countries Make Money

The proposition can seem foolproof to small governments, whose only other easy source of income is printing stamps. Many of the phone lines usecomputerised voice-mail programs, so there is little employment involved. But there is no financial risk to the host country either - the PHONE -line operators are simply given a cut of whatever additional revenue they generate. On some small Pacific islands, banks of 10,000 phone lines - many times the number of local subscribers - have been installed to cope with calls from Japan.