Reconceptualizing social indicators in the Caribbean: a review and discussion

This document discusses the relevance, strengths and limitations of social indicators. Difficulties encountered in the analysis of such data in the Caribbean are identified and discussed. Issues related to the availability of social data for social planning and the implementation of programmes and projects are also explored.…

Meeting held on engendering macroeconomic policy

Poverty and social integration in the Caribbean

Summary This document looks at seven major indicators of poverty in the region: infant mortality; malnutrition; communicable diseases; employment and income; education; social services such as water, sanitation and housing; and the incidence of natural disasters. There is also some focus on crime and violence and the issue of illicit drugs, as expressions of social deterioration.…

ECLAC Conducts Training Workshops on Assessing the Impacts of Natural Disasters in the Region

Gender Dialogue : Message from the Editor

The phenomenon of ageing and the situation of older persons in the Caribbean

Background In its resolution 47/5 of 16 October 1992, the General Assembly decided to observe the year 1999 as the International Year of Older Persons (1) and to take note of the conceptual framework of a programme for the preparation and observance of the International Year of Older Persons in 1999, as contained in the report of the Secretary-General (A/50/114). In resolution 50/141 entitled International Year of Older Persons: Towards a society for all ages , the General Assembly, inter alia, invited the regional commissions, within the existing mandates, to bear in mind the goa…

Industrialization, new technologies and competitiveness in the Caribbean

The present global economic climate and new trading regimes demand that Caribbean countries become more competitive in all their activities and not just in the manufacturing or agricultural sectors, the main focus of most discussions on trade liberalization. On the surface, there seem to be few areas in which small States with limited resources can become competitive, except in tourism, that does not in itself require technological developments by the States themselves. The use of appropriate technologies and policies to properly manage the resource is not always seen as vital to the continued…

ECLAC Creates Database of SIDS Projects in the Caribbean

Study of gender mainstreaming in the Caribbean

Background The mandate for gender mainstreaming underpins the comprehensive provisions of the Beijing Platform for Action which itself finds continuity with the concern for the development of institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women contained in the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies. Governments in the Caribbean have attempted in various ways to advance gender equity not only through substantive policy but also through administrative reform. In these attempts, governments have both made progress and confronted conceptual and operational difficulties. The United Nations mid-term r…

CDCC - Twenty-Five Years of Cooperation and Development: 1975-2000

Recent trade performance of Caribbean countries

Executive Summary The paper analyzes the evolution of trade patterns of the countries comprising the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC); with the following integration groupings: Andean Community, the Central American Common Market (CACM);, the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR);, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); and the European Union (EU); in the 1990s. CDCC trade with the Andean Community was relatively small compared to that with Europe or NAFTA. Non-CARICOM CDCC member countries were dominant in the Andean market with the average value of their expo…

Trade policy in CARICOM: overview of the main trade policy measures

Executive Summary This paper reviews trade policy regimes in CARICOM countries during the 1980s and 1990s. CARICOM trade policy regimes have undergone substantial changes in the 1990s reflecting the desire of the grouP's member countries to move away from inwardlooking to more outward-oriented growth and development. The growing recognition of the importance of export promotion policies led to the adoption of a programme for the Harmonization of Fiscal Incentives to Industry in 1993. All the CARICOM countries have introduced a series of export promotion measures, including fiscal incentiv…

Recent global economic developments

Review of Caribbean economic and social performance in the 1980's and 1990's

Introduction The integration of the world economy gathered momentum in the mid-1980s and continued during the 1990s, through increased trade and financial flows around the world, and the establishment and strengthening of linkages related to the production and distribution of goods and services. Trade flows around the world received a boost from the successful conclusions of the negotiations of the Uruguay Round of trade talks, the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the beginning, in 1995, of the implementation of the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GA…

A review of social development in the Caribbean in the nineties: World Summit for Social Development (WSSD)+5

Summary Following the World Summit for Social Development steps were taken by the entire United Nations system to support national governments in their efforts to implement the agenda of the Summit. This document assesses developments in health, education, crime and violence, drugs and migration five years after the Summit.…

Achieving gender equality: A preliminary documentation on the use of gender planning as part of the gender mainstreaming process among selected Caribbean countries

Summary of Caribbean economic performance, 1998

Summary Structural reforms and other economic policies; economic activity, inflation and employment; monetary developments and changes in public finance; international trade and payments - These are some of the areas examined in this review of the performance of Caribbean economies in 1998. A statistical annex is included.…

Economic profiles of Caribbean countries

Introduction With its programme of assistance to the Caribbean, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean has prepared these economic profiles for 26 independent and non-independent countries of the Caribbean subregion. These countries are: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Haiti, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the G…

Technological dimensions of economic diversification and development in the Caribbean with specific reference to the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)

Summary Most Caribbean countries have failed to attract or retain international investment on any large scale in their industrial sectors. This document advances 18 reasons for this, among them - limited access to technology, lack of awareness of world market opportunities and trends, and the inability to supply products in significant volume. The causes of these problems are identified and analysed. The education system; a lack of entrepreneurial spirit, unawareness of trends and opportunities; production hurdles for micro enterprises; poor investment climate; lack of standards, patent and…

Globalization of financial markets: implications for the Caribbean

Introduction Globalization can be defined in terms of the internationalization of production [Goode, 1998, p.125], or in terms of the internationalization of markets [Lloyd, 1998, p. 163]. The former recognizes the fact that even relatively minor products are frequently found to be made with components from several countries. The latter, on the other hand, recognizes that the cross border flows of the products themselves have increased tremendously over the last two decades. This is particularly true in the case of international financial services. This report examines the globalizati…