This paper addresses the issue of threshold effects between public debt and economic growth in the Caribbean. The main finding is that there exists a threshold debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio of 55–56 percent. Moreover, the debt dynamics begin changing well before this threshold is...

This paper uses linear and nonlinear panel causality tests to empirically explore the direction of causality between external debt stocks and credit ratings for a group of developing countries over the period 1998 to 2008. The results indicate that for the vast majority of the countries in the...

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...

Can debt be used to finance growth? This question has stimulated a number of research papers, seminars and conferences. To date, however, no clear answer to the question is available. This paper attempts to answer the question using meta-analysis. Meta-analysis allows researchers to combine the...

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...

Investment in human development is considered a means of improving the quality of life and sustaining economic growth in the Caribbean. The purpose of this paper is to assess the efficacy of public spending on health care and education by evaluating the life expectancy and school enrolment rates...

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...

This paper aims at determining the causal relationship between FDI and corruption in 42 developing countries using linear and non linear panel methods over the period 1998 to 2009. The findings show a causal association as corruption appears to Granger caused FDI and FDI seems to Granger lead...

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 innovates by being the first to estimate a consumption function of a monetary union as a single entity. It is also the first empirical consumption research on the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU). Due to the open nature of these nations it further adds to the literature by...