Trade is essential for Caribbeancountries development and poverty reduction. Given theirsmall market size, they are dependent on exports to producemanufactured products at efficient scale. And given theirnatural amenities, they rely on tourism as a major spur toeconomic activity. Trade in the Caribbean thus makes anessential contribution to increasing employment and reducingpoverty by supporting growth. At the same time, the highdependence on trade also makes Caribbean economiesvulnerable to external shocks. For example, the globalfinancial crisis imposed substantial job losses in sectorssuch as tourism that the poor rely on for employment. Thisreport employs several different, but complementary,empirical approaches to analyzing the impact of thisemerging new trade environment on shared prosperity in theCaribbean. These include the following six topics, with eachcorresponding to an individual chapter: (i) assessment ofthe Caribbean s performance in reaping the opportunitiesoffered by the new trade environment; (ii) identification ofthe main determinants of Caribbean countriestradeperformance; (iii) discussion of the role of innovation andaccess to keys services in improving the productivity ofexporting firms; (iv) exploration of how regionalintegration and other trade agreements could boost Caribbeantrade performance; (v) firm-level examination of theimplications of trade for employment; and (vi)identification of which households are involved ininternational trade and the implications of trade for theirsocio-economic status.
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
