I guess I'm curious how Polynesian islands manage it, but one thing about Hawaii has a robust economy while Palau does not unfortunately. Palau is heavily relia

I guess I'm curious how Polynesian islands manage it, but one thing about Hawaii has a robust economy while Palau does not unfortunately. Palau is heavily reliant of foreign aid, although it does have a tourism industry, it has faced some struggles. In a curious contradiction, HI is a US state, so federal funds being spent there are not really considered "aid" since they pay federal taxes, while Palau does not pay taxes to the US. Also, scale is different, Palau has less than 30K people, which makes it much smaller Hawaii and even many other Polynesian islands. The curious thing is the cost of living isn't that terrible for things like land and food (which can be grown on the island). Of course, anything else including gas is expensive.