- September 2010
In this issue: Wendy C. Grenade,Tennyson S. D. Joseph, Horace G. Campbell, David Hinds, Patsy Lewis & Dr. The Honourable Ralph E. Gonsalves
Volume 45 No. 1
Siphiwe Ndlovu, Darrin Downes, Alexis Lescott, Laron Alleyne, Nlandu Mamingi, Acolla Lewis-Cameron, Tenisha Brown-Williams, Leslie-Ann Jordan-Miller, Paul Walcott, Reann Edwards, Nlandu Mamingi, Toria N. Small, Sandria Tennant and Paula Hippolyte-Bauwens
Issue Summary
The thematic focus in this issue include: Fanon, alienation, philosophical, despair, oppression, inflation, energy prices, food prices, pass-through effect, error correction model, Caribbean, tourism, transformative, curriculum, millennials, food ordering systems, innovation diffusion, e-commerce, buying behaviours, GDP per capita, Human Development Index, Indigo Score Index, Indigo Wellness Index, Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index, political markets, government decision-making, economic outcomes, transportation infrastructure and human capital.
In this issue
Race and the Coloniality of Being: The Concept of Alienation in the Existential Thought of Frantz Fanon
Pages: 1-16Author(s): Siphiwe Ndlovu
The general understanding of how colonised people are economically and socially marginalised are the more dominant approaches to an understanding of the concept of alienation in Fanon. While these readings are important, the current paper underscores the point that philosophical analyses also feature prominently in Fanon’s thought. It argues for an existentialist and therefore, philosophical reading of the concept of alienation in Fanon. The argument advanced is that, owing to the extraordinary circumstance placed upon the oppressed, race-based oppression leads to a special category, namely ‘existential despair’. The paper makes use of relevant primary and secondary literature.
Keywords: Fanon, alienation, philosophical, despair, oppression
Estimation of the Pass-Through Effect of International Food and Energy Prices on Domestic Prices: The Case of Barbados
Pages: 17-42Author(s): Darrin Downes, Alexis Lescott, Laron Alleyne and Nlandu Mamingi
The inflationary process in small very open economies (SVOEs) is influenced largely by foreign price inflation or “imported inflation”. This is a reflection of the high degree of dependence of SVOEs on imported goods for production and consumption. Whilst previous research on Barbados and other Caribbean economies has found a significant positive relationship between import prices and domestic prices, there has not been explicitly an investigation of the size and speed of the pass-through impacts of international commodity prices (i.e., food and energy prices) on domestic inflation. This study focuses on Barbados. Using quarterly data from 1985 to 2015 and a vector error correction model (VECM) in conjunction with generalised impulse responses and variance decompositions, the study investigates the speed and magnitude of the pass-through impacts of international food and energy prices on domestic prices (inflation) in the long run and the short run. The main findings point a relatively slow speed of adjustment of domestic retail prices from disturbances away from equilibrium. International energy prices were estimated to have a faster rate of pass-through compared to international food prices in the long run, with the reverse found to be true in the short run. The authors posit that this result may be indicative of the multiplicative role energy plays in the determination of domestic retail price inflation.
Keywords: inflation, energy prices, food prices, pass-through effect, error correction model
Transformative Tourism Curriculum: Perspectives from Caribbean Millennials
Pages: 43-67Author(s): Acolla Lewis-Cameron, Tenisha Brown-Williams and Leslie-Ann Jordan-Miller
For the Caribbean, tourism is more than an industry to be managed but is also a socio-economic phenomenon that if managed effectively can contribute to the building of a responsible, socially engaged Caribbean society. Tourism higher education plays a critical role in preparing graduates to shape an improved Caribbean tourism society. Over the years, Caribbean tourism curriculum has been framed by ‘Western models’ that have not taken sufficient account of the Caribbean reality. Using a cross-sectional research design, this paper explored the development of a transformative tourism curriculum from the perspective of Caribbean millennials using a sample of tourism students from The University of the West Indies.
Keywords: Caribbean, tourism, transformative, curriculum
Predicting the Rate of Adoption of Online Food Ordering Systems by Grenadian Millennials: A Study of Three Grenadian Restaurants
Pages: 68-92Author(s): Paul Walcott and Reann Edwards
An exploratory collective case study design was employed to investigate a group of Grenadian millennials' use of an online food ordering system (FOS) implemented at three Grenadian restaurants over a three-week trial period. They highly rated the following: avoiding long waits, service convenience, self-paced ordering, avoiding interactions with rude employees, and order communication accuracy. Using the Theory of Perceived Attributes, it was predicted that this FOS innovation would have a high rate of adoption; however, moderate internet access and financial impediments will slow this rate of adoption. Proposed recommendations included a shared delivery service jointly managed by restaurant partners
Keywords: millennials, food ordering systems, innovation diffusion, e-commerce, buying behaviours
On the Relationships between Macroeconomic Indicators and Wellbeing/Wellness Indicators
Pages: 93-125Author(s): Nlandu Mamingi and Toria N. Small
The present paper examines the strength of relationships between GDP per capita and four (4) other wellness indices (Human Development Index (HDI), Indigo Wellness Index (IWI), Indigo Score Index (ISI) and Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index (BHCI)), expressed in values and ranks. The paper uses one hundred and twenty-five (125) countries with complete data in 2019 and exploits graphical and correlation tools to deal with the query. The results reveal a lack of association between GDP per capita and the IWI. On the contrary, there are strong associations between GDP per capita and each of the remaining indices. In addition, the IWI is statistically uncorrelated with the HDI and the ISI. These results go a long way to explaining the Caribbean – African ‘paradox’ which puts a number of Caribbean countries at the bottom of the IWI ranking compared to most African countries. Essentially, the paper invites us to have a deeper understanding of wellness indices that we use.
Keywords: GDP per capita, Human Development Index, Indigo Score Index, Indigo Wellness Index, Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index
Investment in Infrastructure Versus Investment in People: Political Markets and Economic Outcomes
Pages: 126-154Author(s): Sandria Tennant
This paper examines how political markets affect economic outcomes through governments’ investment decisions. It highlights avenues through which political market imperfections can incentivise government over-investment in transportation infrastructure and under-investment in human capital. The case of Jamaica, a fiscally-constrained country, with a very dense transportation infrastructure network, but widely-acknowledged human capital deficiencies, was used to show that successive governments prioritisation of public expenditure have been unduly skewed towards investments in transportation infrastructure relative to investments in people. The results, derived from trend, statistical and regression analyses, indicate that political market imperfections adversely affect the critical balance between investments in transportation infrastructure and human capital – skewing governments’ investment allocation decisions not only towards transportation infrastructure, but more specifically towards projects that can meet the incumbents’ need for patronage and pork.
Keywords: political markets, government decision-making, economic outcomes, transportation infrastructure, human capital
OECS SIDS and their Economic Strategies: Own up and Stand up!
Pages: 155-162Author(s): Paula Hippolyte-Bauwens
In this commentary the writer suggest a few ideas that could assist OECS countries to review, specifically, their special investor programmes.
Keywords:
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