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dc.titleEngine of Growth?: The Caribbean Private Sector Needs More Than an Oil Change
dc.contributor.authorRuprah, Inder J.
dc.contributor.authorSierra, Ricardo
dc.contributor.orgunitCountry Department Caribbean Group
dc.coverageTrinidad and Tobago
dc.coverageJamaica
dc.coverageGuyana
dc.coverageSuriname
dc.coverageBarbados
dc.coverageBahamas
dc.coverageThe Caribbean
dc.date.available2016-12-09T00:00:00
dc.date.issue2016-12-09T00:00:00
dc.description.abstractThe performance of the private sector is crucial for a country's economic growth. Thus, this report revisits the theme of low Caribbean growth, viewed through a macroeconomic lens in the previous "Sclerosis" report, but focuses on a microeconomic perspective: Why is the business sector not functioning well as the engine of that growth? We argue that fine-tuning that engine, as it were, will take more than an oil change. The central hypothesis is that the Caribbean private sector is falling behind because its policy environment hinders rather than promotes dynamic, innovative, and export-oriented businesses. Structural policies that target overall improvements in the environment in which firms operate may have greater returns than just firm- or sector-level interventions in improving the performance of the private sector, and hence overall economic growth. This is counterintuitive for many Caribbean policymakers and commentators who often focus on the needs of existing large firms (foreign or domestically owned) and discuss which sector or industry should be promoted next given the stagnation of the existing sectors.
dc.format.extent211
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0012652
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Engine-of-Growth-The-Caribbean-Private-Sector-Needs-More-Than-an-Oil-Change.pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.mediumAdobe PDF
dc.publisherInter-American Development Bank
dc.subjectProductivity Growth
dc.subjectBusiness Development
dc.subjectInnovation Policy
dc.subjectGender Issue
dc.subjectTourism
dc.subjectAccess to Finance
dc.subjectResearch and Development
dc.subjectExporting Firm
dc.subjectTax Rate
dc.subjectMacroeconomy
dc.subjectTax Administration
dc.subjectForeign Direct Investment
dc.subjectPrivate Investment
dc.subjectFirm Performance
dc.subject.jelcodeD01 - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
dc.subject.jelcodeE24 - Employment • Unemployment • Wages • Intergenerational Income Distribution • Aggregate Human Capital • Aggregate Labor Productivity
dc.subject.jelcodeF10 - Trade: General
dc.subject.jelcodeF43 - Economic Growth of Open Economies
dc.subject.jelcodeG2 - Financial Institutions and Services
dc.subject.jelcodeH4 - Publicly Provided Goods
dc.subject.jelcodeI25 - Education and Economic Development
dc.subject.jelcodeJ2 - Demand and Supply of Labor
dc.subject.jelcodeJ6 - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
dc.subject.jelcodeO34 - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
dc.subject.keywordsprivate investment;firm performance;tourism;business development
dc.typeMonographs
idb.identifier.pubnumberMonographs
idb.operationRG-P1608
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