In this article, three issues relating to leading composite indicators (LCI) are discussed: their importance, methods of estimation and uses by institutions worldwide. This discussion is utilised to provide lessons that could be learnt for the application of these indicators to the countries of...

This paper has two main objectives. Firstly, to establish and characterise a reference cycle (based on real output) for Barbados over the quarterly period 1974-2003 using the Bry and Boschan algorithm. Secondly, to link this aggregate output cycle to the cycles of the individual sectors that...

After gaining political independence from the European countries and the United States, the Caribbean Basin economies have at the end of the 2000s display considerable differences in income and living standards. In this paper the concepts of convergence are used to examine whether disparities in...

In the Caribbean Basin, as in many other parts of the world, unemployment, with rates between 15 and 30 percent, has become one of the major problems affecting these societies. This article highlights the specific characteristics of Caribbean unemployment, contrasting them with those observed in...

This paper uses the error correcting methodology to investigate how pegged and non-pegged exchange rate regimes in a set of Caribbean countries affect the closeness of the relationship between changes in a base country rate and the local rate. This interest rate parity condition is subjected to...

This study applies panel causality methods to investigate the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and tourism in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The results of the homogenous and instantaneous causality tests suggest that there is a bi-directional causal relationship...

Credit unions differ from commercial banks and other financial institutions since their members are the owners of the credit union and they elect board of directors in a democratic one-person-one vote system regardless of the amount of money invested in the credit union. Credit unions contribute...

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...

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...