The Challenge of Structural Adjustment in the Commonwealth Caribbean

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This work analyzes recent economic performance in the Commonwealth Caribbean by examining the IMF/World Bank Structural Adjustment package and its relation to the deteriorating economic and social conditions in this part of the world. Ramesh F. Ramsaran takes a critical look at structural adjustment as it has been applied in the Caribbean and also examines recent structural adjustment theory in general and some of its contradictions in practice. Ramsaran argues that if structural adjustment programmes are to be effective with minimum social cost, their design must take into account the specific conditions of individual countries. This argument against the general application of policies and principles remains firm, despite the fact that international aid agencies in the 1980s did find general guidelines useful in particular situations. His analysis may be of interest to scholars and policy-makers in international and development economics and international finance and trade.

Reviews

Ramsaran (University of the West Indies, Trinidad) provides an earnest review and appraisal of the effects of neoliberal economic strategies as correctives to economic crisis in the Caribbean. The general thrust is a plea for a more informed application of solutions, one based less on ideological conviction and more on the needs of Caribbean societies, which do not always (perhaps rarely) conform to the assumptions implied by the cure. The arguments made are not new, nor are they backed up with a theoretical counterpoint for alternative policy-making to confront the economic problems of the region that no one would deny. Still, there is value in the work for the nonspecialist who wishes to reflect on the nature and context of economic policy-making and the possible consequences of inappropriate action driven by a particular economic policy agenda that now animates the path of transformation in the Caribbean and much of the rest of the less-developed world. Advanced undergraduate through faculty.-Choice
"Ramsaran (University of the West Indies, Trinidad) provides an earnest review and appraisal of the effects of neoliberal economic strategies as correctives to economic crisis in the Caribbean. The general thrust is a plea for a more informed application of solutions, one based less on ideological conviction and more on the needs of Caribbean societies, which do not always (perhaps rarely) conform to the assumptions implied by the cure. The arguments made are not new, nor are they backed up with a theoretical counterpoint for alternative policy-making to confront the economic problems of the region that no one would deny. Still, there is value in the work for the nonspecialist who wishes to reflect on the nature and context of economic policy-making and the possible consequences of inappropriate action driven by a particular economic policy agenda that now animates the path of transformation in the Caribbean and much of the rest of the less-developed world. Advanced undergraduate through faculty."-Choice

Author Bio

RAMESH F. RAMSARAN is Senior Lecturer at the Institute of International Relations of the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. Previously he served as a consultant to the World Bank and the African Caribbean Pacific Secretariat in Brussels. Dr. Ramsaran is the author of several books, including, United States Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean (1985), and The Commonwealth Caribbean in the World Economy (1989).