The Government of Trinidad and Tobago continues to provide support to SMEs in order to enhance their
international competitiveness. The increasing effects of globalization and the reality of several trade
agreements require that local businesses attain and maintain a level of competitiveness which ensures
their continued survival and growth. This report examines in detail the policy environment within which
these enterprises operate. It also examines the role of the key implementing agencies such as the BDC and
NEDCO for government’s policy on the sector and also the role of the respective lin…
11 Ago 2009, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:08
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This manual documents some of the material related to the Survey of Living
Conditions and Household Budgets (SLC/HBS) conducted in Saint Lucia by the Kairi
Consultants Limited and National Assessment Team between 2005 and 2006.
The SLC/HBS is a sample survey which generates data on households and individuals
in the country. The main objectives of this survey were (i) to collect information from
households on their expenditure patterns, income and other characteristics and; (ii) to revise
the 'average shopping basket' used in constructing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the
country…
Health care migration is a large and global business. Recruitment is decentralized, involves both public and private sector entrepreneurs, and is difficult to regulate. The countries of the Western Hemisphere are important players in the global health market but, with the partial exception of the Islands of the Caribbean, there is little cooperation among their governments to manage migration patterns or combine forces in order to achieve economies of scale and cost effective training facilities. A related area of concern within the realm of health is care for the elderly. In wealthy countries…
Financial integration among countries entails a series of well-known benefits. On the one hand, net inflows of external savings can complement national savings within an economy and therefore raise productive investment and income. On the other hand, capital mobility provides opportunities for portfolio diversification and risk sharing between countries and this may enable investors-both firms and households of particular countries- to achieve higher risk-adjusted rates of return. This in turn could encourage increases in savings and investment and therefore deliver faster rates of growth (Eic…
Job creation continues to be a priority in economic policy because the wellbeing of families depends on the quantity and quality of jobs available. In 2004-2008, Latin America recorded its highest economic growth in 40 years, which has had a positive impact on job creation, in contrast to the minimal improvements in both job numbers and quality posted during periods of slow economic growth. Economic growth is not, however, the only factor that shapes these two aspects of employment. The three pillars of the institutional framework for labour, namely, the regulations governing individual and co…
1 Nov 2009, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:03
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There is a longstanding tradition of analyzing trade and growth in economics, going back to the discipline's founders. But for Latin America, the debate on the significance of this relationship has had much more than academic relevance. It has been one of the central components of the different approaches to development that have shaped the region's economic history, the other (closely related) component being the roles of the State and of the market in economic development. In Latin America, the dominant understanding of the relationship between trade and growth has evolved radicall…
1 Nov 2009, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:10
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Over the last 35 years the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has assessed major disasters in the Latin American region. Based on those exercises, which that have been conducted in a systematic manner using an evolving but comparable methodology over the years1, there is now historical evidence of the economic consequences these events have on the region's economies. This evidence-based approach sheds light on the link between economic performance, development dynamics and how disasters, as external shocks, generate lingering…
1 Oct 2009, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:03
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Brazil has been the most dynamic country of Latin America and the Caribbean in global services trade in the 1990s and 2000s, but compared to other emerging economies elsewhere it is outperformed by China and India. Brazil's rising share in global services trade reflects mostly its increase in the world trade of other services, which include all services except transport and tourism. Brazilian exports of other services are concentrated in architecturalengineering and real estate services. In terms of destinations, the US market accounts for about one half and the European Union…
This study examines the application of the flexicurity labour system in the Caribbean countries of Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. The flexicurity system has its origins in Denmark and combines elements of labour market flexibility with social security for workers. After outlining the elements of the system, the study provides an overview of the labour market in the Caribbean and compares the performance of Denmark with the three Caribbean countries. The comparison shows that there is a much lower level of flexibility and security in the three Caribbean states than in Denmark. The d…
1 Jun 2009, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:02
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The document assesses of the situation of the maritime sector in CARICOM and presents a series of new observations and issues. Challenges and barriers in the maritime sector, or problems created through inefficiencies in the maritime sector are analyzed for: maritime freight transport, cruise shipping, ports and yachting. Whilst the first three are part of the original structure of the study, the fourth is included to show the full extension of the maritime sector. To be able to understand the challenges and role of maritime transport in a regional and global context, it is essential to consid…
1 Ene 2009, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:04
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During these years of growing global uncertainties, financial and economic pressures, nations and international institutions are searching for political, social and professional answers to the new challenges. The Washington consensus has discredited itself in more respects. Denmark seems to have found effective answers to adaptation needs with it flexicurity system: a labour market arrangement that builds on high mobility, high income security, employment security, and active market and educational policies. Security and flexibility is combined in innovative ways, giving wage earners transfera…
This paper studies the determinants of manufacturing exports toChina. Data from 79 countries for the 1990-2006 period and estimatesof gravity equations are used to analyse the effects of countries' factorendowment, geographical characteristics and degree of economicopenness. The results are consistent with the factor abundance modeland reveal that economies with a larger human capital endowment exporta greater volume of manufactures to China. Having a large economyand being geographically close to China also make a country morelikely to export manufactures to it. The results do not indica…
19 Nov 2009, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:08
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As part of ongoing efforts to strengthen the statistical capacities of National Statistical
Offices (NSOs) in the region, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC) convened a two-day Regional Training Workshop on Data Sharing, Data Ownership
and Harmonization of Survey Datasets on 26-27 August 2009 at the Cascadia Hotel, Trinidad
and Tobago. This workshop was one of the concluding activities of the Project on Improving
Household Surveys in the Caribbean which has been implemented by the ECLAC Subregional
office from 2007.…
10 Jun 2009, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:15
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The paper highlights several key economic issues of the climate change debate. Section I
states the need to adopt a precautionary approach to the climate change challenge in the face of uncertainty; while Section II illustrates the key economic drivers of climate change. Section III
provides an analysis of the economic gains and losses posed by climate change and the
inequalities implied by the regional and sectoral distribution of these gains and losses; and Section IV explores potential economic tools for addressing climate change, namely emissions taxes, cap and trade regimes, command and…
9 Mar 2009, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:15
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This report addresses the main features of the evolution of Caribbean economies during 2008 and, especially, the prospects for 2009 in the context of the ongoing international financial crisis and economic turmoil. As is well known, small open economies, such as those of the Caribbean, are highly influenced by developments in the world economy through a variety of channels of transmission that include international trade, tourist arrivals, remittances, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and external financing. The intensity of these effects will depend, among other things, on the fiscal position,…
Abstract
This study consists of two substantive components that provide an overview of the different methodologies currently being applied to the measurement of multidimensional poverty for Mexico and Central America. In the first component a typology of different practical methodological concepts is organized according to how different methods deal with the two fundamental decisions in the measurement of poverty, identifying the poor and aggregating the groups into a single index value that is informative. The typology is able to encompass most different methods of multidimensio…
This study presents dynamic labour demand estimates based oninformation for 15 Latin American countries in the last three decades. Itis found that recessions have a direct negative effect on total and wageemployment creation. There is also a positive effect of recessions onemployment-output elasticity and a negative one on employment-wageelasticity. These results can be interpreted as meaning that policies aimedat reducing labour costs would be of limited effectiveness in combatingunemployment during recessions. On the other hand, policies to stimulateaggregate demand would have a stronger pos…
1 Ago 2009, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:04
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En 2008 el PIB real de El Salvador creció 2,5%, dos puntos porcentuales menos que en 2007, mientras que el PIB por habitante aumentó 0,9%, la tercera parte de la cifra registrada el año anterior. Al igual que en 2007, el sector de la agricultura presentó el mayor dinamismo. El Salvador: Economic evolution during 2008 and perspectives for 2009 Abstract: In 2008, the real GDP of El Salvador grew by 2,5%, two percentage points less than in 2007, while the GDP per inhabitant increased by 0,9%, equalling a third of the figure registered the previous year. Just like in 2007, the agricultu…
31 Mar 2009, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:10
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This study presents an analysis of factors related to selected Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in education, health and water and sanitation in Nicaragua. Using available household survey data, complemented with selected supply side data, empirical econometric models of education enrolment, child mortality and the provision of water and sanitation are employed to examine the relationship of individual, household and municipal factors to the achievement of these MDGs. The MDG formulation also provides for a comparison of two different modelling methodologies, the standard logit estimation f…
1 Ago 2009, 00:00 - 14 Oct 2025, 18:04
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En 2008 la economía panameña mantuvo el intenso ritmo de crecimiento del PIB real y se expandió 9,2%, a pesar de haber desacelerado frente al 11,5% de 2007. El sector público no financiero (SPNF) registró un ligero superávit equivalente a 0,4% del PIB, cifra inferior al 3,5% registrado en 2007. Este resultado obedece a la reducción en la recaudación de fondos y el aumento de gastos corrientes para mitigar los efectos del alza de precios de los alimentos y el petróleo en el primer semestre del año. Panama: Economic evolution during 2008 and perspectives for 2009 Abstract: In 2008, …