The Wider Caribbean in the 20th Century: A Long-Run Development Perspective
Author(s)
Bulmer-Thomas, Victor
Abstract
This paper takes a long view of economic development and inter-country income inequality in the 28 countries making up the wider Caribbean. Using a specially constructed data base in two parts (1900-1960 and 1960 to 1998), the paper uses exports per head as a proxy for living standards in the first period (1900-1960) and finds that the coefficient of variation widened significantly after 1900. This finding is supported by evidence on public revenue per head, another proxy for living standards. This confirms the hypothesis that inter-country income inequality widened in the first half of the century, as some countries were much more successful than others in diversifying exports. In the later period (1960-98), for which gross domestic product per head figures have been constructed for all countries, inter-country income inequality narrows as a result of other countries following the example of earlier success stories in introducing new exports, especially services. This finding is supported by the evidence on public revenue per head and years of schooling per head for the same period. However, the gap between the richest countries and the poorest remained enormous, confirming that geography–as far as the Caribbean is concerned–is not destiny.
