Even as Trinidad and Tobago seeks productive diversification away from the energy sector, the process underlying the country's productive development policies (PDP) is in a state of transition from state-directed industrial policy to a newer approach with extensive private-public participation....

Using the case study of Trinidad and Tobago we investigate for an emerging economy the socioeconomic, demographic, and attitudinal characteristics that influence the propensity of individuals in the household sector to participate in the hidden economy and their perception of the risk of...

Even as Trinidad and Tobago seeks productive diversification away from the energy sector, the process underlying the country’s productive development policies (PDP) is in a state of transition from state-directed industrial policy to a newer approach with extensive private-public...

We investigate the characteristics of the owners of small businesses that participate in the informal sector of an emerging economy and their perception of the risk of detection by tax authorities while doing so. Data are gathered from a survey covering 1027 small businesses in Trinidad and...

This paper provides an econometric assessment of the deterrence model, with a specific focus on violent crime in England and Wales. It finds that beliefs about the probability of arrest are substantially lower than official arrests rates, but when adjusting for non-reporting by victims, the...

In this paper, an attempt is made to measure the hidden economy of Trinidad & Tobago over the period 1973-1999, within the Structural Cointegrating VAR (SCVAR) framework. Using a Tanzi-type currency demand approach as a starting point, a multiple equation SCVAR model is estimated that contains...

Why are growth rates in Latin America so disappointing? This book reviews the results of an ambitious research project to determine the binding constraints to growth, that is, the barrier whose removal would yield the greatest benefit in terms of growth. Included are case studies from seven...

We estimate the impact of hurricane strikes on local economic growth rates and how this is reflected in more aggregate growth patterns. To this end we assemble a panel data set of US coastal counties' growth rates and construct a hurricane destruction index that is based on a monetary loss...