Financial systems across the world have all come under pressure due to the on-going financial crisis. One of the most often asked questions during a collapse is how long and how deep will the decline be as well as what policy initiatives can be employed to shorten the recession. This study...

This paper provides an assessment of the size and composition of household debt in Barbados over the period 1990 to 2010. First, the study estimates the size of household indebtedness, with particular emphasis on recent trends in household debt and the main providers of credit. Second, it...

This paper uses an estimated model of residential electricity demand to examine the impact of proposed tariff changes on a representative sample of 130 Barbadian households. The estimated equation results suggest that the price elasticities of demand for particular appliances varied...

Over the last decade or more micro price studies have proliferated. In this paper a survey of this literature reveals alternative theoretical explanations of sticky prices: (a) sellers review and change prices only at predetermined intervals (except under extraordinary circumstances), so that...

This paper uses a unique micro data set of price records underlying the Barbados retail price index between 1994 and 2008 to provide a detailed assessment of consumer price rigidity. The major aim is to calculate price durations and the patterns of price-setting across sectors. We also check...

Economic theory suggests that opening the capital account should allow a country to diversify away economic shocks, increase capital inflows, expand economic growth and efficiency and encourage governments to pursue good policies, the empirical evidence with regard to these theoretical...

Since 2003 policymakers in Barbados have implemented a series of tax reforms that have lowered both basic as well as marginal income tax rates. These changes have more than likely induced taxpayers to alter their behaviour in order to affect their reported taxable income. This paper employs an...

The theoretical literature suggests that there should be a bi-directional relationship between investment and mergers. This essay uses homogenous and heterogeneous panel Granger causality tests to examine this hypothesis. The paper finds that in high-income countries, cross-border mergers tend...

Since 1970, private sector credit has grown quite rapidly in the Caribbean. More recently, between 2004 and 2006, total real credit in the Caribbean has risen by a cumulative 55.7 percent, or approximately 19 percent per annum. In some countries, the rate of expansion has even been stronger,...

The 1990s were a turbulent time for Latin American and Caribbean countries. During this period, the region suffered from no less than sixteen banking crises. One of the most important determinants of the severity of banking crises is commercial bank liquidity. Banking systems, which are...