If Greenland were for sale, what would it be worth?

Associate Professor in Economics, Jonathan Boymal, is available for media comment following the publication of his co-written The Conversation article, If Greenland were for sale, what would it be worth? How to put a ‘price tag’ on a territory (Creative Commons).

Key points:

• The US, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, Germany and Saudi Arabia have all purchased territory in the past.
• Valuing a country (or an autonomous territory like Greenland) is no simple task.
• GDP is a logical place to start in pricing a territory, but it does not incorporate potential.
• Greenland’s productive resources include the existing businesses, governments and workers used to generate its current GDP (estimated at about US$3.236 billion in 2021).
• Attributes of value not captured in GDP include the quality of Greenland’s capital (both human and infrastructure), quality of life, natural resources and strategic position.
• There has been a decline in territorial sales.
• In modern democracies, it is nearly impossible to sell land if local citizens oppose the idea.

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