IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/2020-008.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Is the Whole Greater than the Sum of its Parts? Strengthening Caribbean Regional Integration

Author

Listed:
  • Abdullah Alhassan
  • Mary E. Burfisher
  • Mr. Julian T Chow
  • Ding Ding
  • Fabio Di Vittorio
  • Dmitriy Kovtun
  • Arnold McIntyre
  • Ms. Inci Ötker
  • Marika Santoro
  • Lulu Shui
  • Karim Youssef

Abstract

Deeper economic integration within the Caribbean has been a regional policy priority since the establishment of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the decision to create the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). Implementation of integration initiatives has, however, been slow, despite the stated commitment of political leaders. The “implementation deficit” has led to skepticism about completing the CSME and controversy regarding its benefits. This paper analyzes how Caribbean integration has evolved, discusses the obstacles to progress, and explores the potential benefits from greater integration. It argues that further economic integration through liberalization of trade and labor mobility can generate significant macroeconomic benefits, but slow progress in completing the institutional arrangements has hindered implementation of the essential components of the CSME and progress in economic integration. Advancing institutional integration through harmonization and rationalization of key institutions and processes can reduce the fixed costs of institutions, providing the needed scale and boost to regional integration. Greater cooperation in several functional policy areas where the region is facing common challenges can also provide low-hanging fruit, creating momentum toward full integration as the Community continues to address the obstacles to full economic integration.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdullah Alhassan & Mary E. Burfisher & Mr. Julian T Chow & Ding Ding & Fabio Di Vittorio & Dmitriy Kovtun & Arnold McIntyre & Ms. Inci Ötker & Marika Santoro & Lulu Shui & Karim Youssef, 2020. "Is the Whole Greater than the Sum of its Parts? Strengthening Caribbean Regional Integration," IMF Working Papers 2020/008, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2020/008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=48930
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alain Maurin & Roland Craigwell, 2010. "Are Caribbean Countries Diverging or Converging? Evidence from Spatial Econometrics," Post-Print hal-04052136, HAL.
    2. DavidG. Blanchflower & Chris Shadforth, 2009. "Fear, Unemployment and Migration," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(535), pages 136-182, February.
    3. Campos, Nauro F. & Coricelli, Fabrizio & Moretti, Luigi, 2014. "Economic Growth and Political Integration: Estimating the Benefits from Membership in the European Union Using the Synthetic Counterfactuals Method," IZA Discussion Papers 8162, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Mahdi Ghodsi & Julia Grübler & Robert Stehrer, 2016. "Estimating Importer-Specific Ad Valorem Equivalents of Non-Tariff Measures," wiiw Working Papers 129, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    5. Velloso, Helvia & Bustillo, Inés & Dookeran, Winston & Perrotti, Daniel E., 2018. "Resilience and capital flows in the Caribbean," Oficina de la CEPAL en Washington (Estudios e Investigaciones) 43420, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    6. McLean, Sheldon & Pantin, Machel & Skerrette, Nyasha, 2014. "Regional integration in the Caribbean: The role of trade agreements and structural transformation," Studies and Perspectives – ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for The Caribbean 37267, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    7. Stausholm, Saila Naomi, 2017. "Rise of ineffective incentives: New empirical evidence on tax holidays in developing countries," SocArXiv 4sn3k, Center for Open Science.
    8. Thoumi, Francisco E., 1989. "Bilateral trade flows and economic integration in Latin America and the Caribbean," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 421-429, March.
    9. Silvia Merler, 2016. "Income convergence during the crisis- did EU funds provide a buffer?," Working Papers 17081, Bruegel.
    10. Alexander Klemm & Stefan Parys, 2012. "Empirical evidence on the effects of tax incentives," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 19(3), pages 393-423, June.
    11. H. Mikael Sandberg & James Seale & Timothy Taylor, 2006. "History, regionalism, and CARICOM trade: A gravity model analysis," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(5), pages 795-811.
    12. S. Van Parys & S. James, 2010. "The Effectiveness of Tax Incentives in Attracting FDI: Evidence from the Tourism Sector in the Caribbean," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 10/675, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    13. Martin Kahanec & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), 2016. "Labor Migration, EU Enlargement, and the Great Recession," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-662-45320-9, December.
    14. Antonio ALLEYNE & Troy LORDE, 2014. "A Gravity Model Approach To Analyzing The Trade Performance Of Caricom Member States," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 14(2).
    15. Robert Warner & Marlon Anatol, 2015. "Caribbean Integration—Lessons for the Pacific?," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(1), pages 183-196, January.
    16. Dorrucci, Ettore & Fratzscher, Marcel & Mongelli, Francesco Paolo & Firpo, Stefano, 2002. "European integration: what lessons for other regions? The case of Latin America," Working Paper Series 185, European Central Bank.
    17. Ms. Jingqing Chai & Rishi Goyal, 2008. "Tax Concessions and Foreign Direct Investment in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union," IMF Working Papers 2008/257, International Monetary Fund.
    18. Shelton Nicholls & Anthony Birchwood & Philip Colthrust & Earl Boodoo, 2000. "The State of and Prospects for the Deepening and Widening of Caribbean Integration," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(9), pages 1161-1194, September.
    19. Paolo Mongelli, Francesco & Dorrucci, Ettore, 2005. "The Path of European Institutional and Economic Integration: What Lessons for Latin America?," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 20, pages 217-251.
    20. Munongo, Simon & Akanbi, Olusegun Ayo & Robinson, Zurika, 2017. "Do tax incentives matter for investment? A literature review," Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), Prague Development Center (PRADEC), vol. 13(2).
    21. Mr. Douglas Laxton & Susanna Mursula & Mr. Michael Kumhof & Mr. Dirk V Muir, 2010. "The Global Integrated Monetary and Fiscal Model (GIMF) – Theoretical Structure," IMF Working Papers 2010/034, International Monetary Fund.
    22. Martin Bes & Daniel Alvarez-Estrada, 2013. "Promoting Growth in the Caribbean : Tax Incentives in Theory and in Practice [Promoción del crecimiento en el Caribe : incentivos fiscales en teoría y en la práctica]," World Bank Publications - Reports 16619, The World Bank Group.
    23. Blanchard, Olivier J, 1985. "Debt, Deficits, and Finite Horizons," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(2), pages 223-247, April.
    24. Koffie Ben Nassar, 2008. "Corporate Income Tax Competition in the Caribbean," IMF Working Papers 2008/077, International Monetary Fund.
    25. Coricelli, Fabrizio & Campos, Nauro & Moretti, Luigi, 2014. "Economic Growth and Political Integration: Estimating the Benefits from Membership in the European Union Using the Synthetic Co," CEPR Discussion Papers 9968, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    26. Evdokia Moïsé & Silvia Sorescu, 2013. "Trade Facilitation Indicators: The Potential Impact of Trade Facilitation on Developing Countries' Trade," OECD Trade Policy Papers 144, OECD Publishing.
    27. Mr. Amadou N Sy, 2006. "Financial Integration in the West African Economic and Monetary Union," IMF Working Papers 2006/214, International Monetary Fund.
    28. Stephane Schlotterbeck, 2017. "Tax Administration Reforms in the Caribbean: Challenges, Achievements, and Next Steps," IMF Working Papers 2017/088, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Majid FESHARI & Ali AKBAR TAGHIPOUR & Mojtaba VALIBEIGI, 2016. "Tourism Demand And Tax Relationship In Islamic Regions," Regional Science Inquiry, Hellenic Association of Regional Scientists, vol. 0(3), pages 99-106, December.
    2. Tidiane Kinda, 2018. "The quest for non-resource-based FDI: Do taxes matter?," Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 1-18, January.
    3. Majid FESHARI & Ali AKBAR TAGHIPOUR & Mojtaba VALIBEIGI, 2016. "Tourism Demand And Tax Relationship In Islamic Regions," Regional Science Inquiry, Hellenic Association of Regional Scientists, vol. 0(3), pages 99-106, December.
    4. Martin Bes & Daniel Alvarez-Estrada, 2013. "Promoting Growth in the Caribbean : Tax Incentives in Theory and in Practice [Promoción del crecimiento en el Caribe : incentivos fiscales en teoría y en la práctica]," World Bank Publications - Reports 16619, The World Bank Group.
    5. Klaus Jaffe, 2015. "Agent based simulations visualize Adam Smith's invisible hand by solving Friedrich Hayek's Economic Calculus," Papers 1509.04264, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2015.
    6. Dennis Essers & Stefaan Ide, 2017. "The IMF and precautionary lending : An empirical evaluation of the selectivity and effectiveness of the flexible credit line," Working Paper Research 323, National Bank of Belgium.
    7. Cutrini, Eleonora & Mendez, Carlos, 2023. "Convergence clubs and spatial structural change in the European Union," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 167-181.
    8. Laudage, Sabine, 2020. "Corporate tax revenue and foreign direct investment: Potential trade-offs and how to address them," IDOS Discussion Papers 17/2020, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    9. International Monetary Fund, 2016. "United Kingdom: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2016/169, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Andrei Polbin & Sergey Drobyshevsky, 2014. "Developing a Dynamic Stochastic Model of General Equilibrium for the Russian Economy," Research Paper Series, Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, issue 166P, pages 156-156.
    11. Bilicka, Katarzyna & Scur, Daniela, 2024. "Organizational capacity and profit shifting," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    12. Piotr Gabrielczak & Tomasz Serwach, 2017. "The impact of the euro adoption on the complexity of goods in Slovenian exports," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 35(1), pages 45-71.
    13. Kumhof, Michael & Laxton, Douglas & Leigh, Daniel, 2014. "To starve or not to starve the beast?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 1-23.
    14. Vladimir Klyuev & Stephen Snudden, 2011. "Effects of Fiscal Consolidation in the Czech Republic," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 61(4), pages 306-326, August.
    15. Samba Diop & Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2021. "The Macroeconomic Impact of Recent Political Conflicts in Africa: Generalized Synthetic Counterfactual Evidence," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 21/060, African Governance and Development Institute..
    16. Munongo, Simon & Akanbi, Olusegun Ayo & Robinson, Zurika, 2017. "Do tax incentives matter for investment? A literature review," Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), Prague Development Center (PRADEC), vol. 13(2).
    17. Ansgar Belke & Daniel Gros, 2017. "The Economic Impact of Brexit: Evidence from Modelling Free Trade Agreements," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 45(3), pages 317-331, September.
    18. Jacob Bundrick & Weici Yuan, 2019. "Do Targeted Business Subsidies Improve Income and Reduce Poverty? A Synthetic Control Approach," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 33(4), pages 351-375, November.
    19. Thomas Sampson, 2017. "Brexit: The Economics of International Disintegration," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(4), pages 163-184, Fall.
    20. -, 2020. "The Caribbean Outlook: Forging a people-centred approach to sustainable development post-COVID-19," Libros y Documentos Institucionales, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 46192 edited by Eclac.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2020/008. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Akshay Modi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfffus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.