Small States Digest Issue 3 – 2012

In this issue, small states’ practices and experiences are shared in two articles:

• Financial Structure and Economic Development in the Caribbean by Don Taylor and Ryan Peterson; and
• Quantifying Management’s Role in Bank Survival Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA): Case for Jamaica by Lisa-Kaye Wallace.

This issue also carries a Question and Answer article with Antigua Barbuda’s Senator Joanne Massiah on the challenges faced by small states.

The first presents a doctoral study in-progress on the design and development of resilient and robust financial systems for competitive island economies in the Caribbean. This research (in-progress) paper discusses the vulnerabilities and capabilities of island economies in an increasingly volatile global economy, and provides a review of the current state of affairs in the Caribbean. The paper concludes with several initial promising findings and outlines directions for further research and development.

On the other hand, Lisa-Kaye’s article presents a new approach for quantifying management quality for banking institutions in Jamaica, using a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model that combines multiple inputs and outputs to compute a scalar measure of efficiency. This measure seeks to capture a fundamental and crucial element of a bank’s success, which is its management efficiency. The results show that, on average, differences in management quality scores exist between institutions that failed during the 1996–1998 Jamaican financial sector meltdown relative to banks that survived.

As usual, the Digest also contains selected economic indicators, a listing of recent publications on small states and an up-coming events section.

For further information regarding the Small States Digest, please contact Daniel Amin at smallstatesinfo@commonwealth.int.

Previous Issues

Small States Digest - Issue 2, July 2012
Release date: 15 August 2012

Small States Digest - Issue 1, March 2012
Release date: 15 April 2012