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We examine the impact of extreme weather on consumer prices in developing countries by constructing a monthly data set of potential hurricane and flood destruction indices and linking these with consumer price data for 15 Caribbean islands. Our econometric model shows that the price impact of extreme weather events can be large. To illustrate potential welfare losses due to these price effects, we combine our estimates with price elasticities obtained from a demand system and with event probabilities for Jamaica. Our results show that while expected monthly losses are small, rare events can cause large falls in monthly welfare due to price increases.

Concentration on consumption in material environments characterized by too much rather than too little creates important gaps in the understanding of how much of the earth’s population navigates the marketplace. This study investigates bottom-of-the-pyramid, or impoverished, consumers to better comprehend the relationship between societal poverty and individual life satisfaction as moderated by psychological need deprivation and described by self-determination theory. Data were gathered from more than 77,000 individuals in 51 of the world’s poorest countries. Using hierarchical linear models, results show that relatedness and autonomy improve poverty’s negative influence on life satisfaction, but only if basic life necessities are available, described as consumption adequacy. Findings illustrate that without consumption adequacy, psychological need fulfillment has little effect on the poverty–well-being relationship, emphasizing the hopelessness of individuals living in extreme poverty. Findings also suggest to researchers that impoverished consumers not only face different circumstances but actually respond to those circumstances in unique ways.

PurposeThis study aims to incorporate macro- and micro-level institutional factors into the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model to understand their effect on entrepreneurial intentions (EI) amongst students in nations from Latin America and Caribbean region and India.Design/methodology/approachUsing non-probability sampling technique, data was collected from Colombia, Dominican Republic, India and Mexico, and consisted of 757 useable responses from students. Structural equation modelling was employed to conduct confirmatory factor analysis while path analysis was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsCombined samples from all countries showed information and communications technology infrastructure, usage and adoption (ICTi) and educational support had an indirect effect on EI through personal attitude (PA) and perceived behavioural control (PBC) but not through subjective norms (SN). Additionally, it was found that while PA and PBC have a direct influence on EI; SN does not. Further, an inverse relationship was found between age and EI, while respondents' gender, academic programme and entrepreneurship education had no significant effect on EI.Practical implicationsThis study suggests enhanced investments in developing and emerging economies by enabling institutional environments at the macro- and micro-level that could help promote EI.Originality/valueThe current paper contributes to the EI literature by incorporating institutional factors at macro- and micro-levels in developing and emerging economies towards a more integrative TPB.

Purpose This study aims to explore the relationship between tourism and women’s employment in 32 South American and Caribbean countries from 1996 to 2020. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, both static (fixed effects and random effects) and dynamic panel data models (system and differenced generalized method of moments) are used. In addition to gross domestic product, trade, education and urban population are also considered in this study. Findings According to the findings, a boost in tourism led to an increase in women’s engagement in the economy and service sectors. This paper also explores the efficiency of alternate methods to deal with various models of women labor force (WLF) involvement in various sectors. Women’s employment opportunities in the service sector expand as a result of tourism, but in the agricultural and industrial sectors, that employment opportunity is reduced. Research limitations/implications This study investigated the impact of tourism on WLF participation and found that it had a significant impact. This study, on the other hand, specifically contributed to the tourism sector in some specific study areas, such as tourism and agriculture, service and industry sectors. This study also displays that female participation in South America and the Caribbean countries is increasing and women are shifting away from traditional economic sectors. Originality/value This is the pioneering study to discover tourism and female participation in employment in South American and Caribbean countries. The findings of this study have important implications for future studies and policy debates examining the consequence of the tourism industry on WLF.

This study examines the impacts of globalization and economic freedom on the economic growth of a group of 24 developing countries from the Latin America and Caribbean over a time span ranging from 1995 to 2015. We have constructed two models, one with the globalization’s overall value and another with the political, social and economic dimensions of globalization. Our results point out to the fact that globalization has had a positive impact on the economic growth of these countries in the long-run, as well their economic and social dimensions. Still, the political dimension of globalization did not show any statistically significant effect upon growth. In addition, we have found evidence of a negative impact resulting from economic freedom on the economic growth of these Latin American and Caribbean countries in the long-run. In the short-run, the results have indicated that electric power consumption (in all estimations) and social globalization (in only one estimation) were able to promote the economic growth of these countries. Finally, the negative and significant coefficient of the error correction mechanism in all estimations points out to the presence of cointegration/long-memory relationships between the variables. This study aims to contribute to the enrichment of the globalization-growth and economic freedom-growth literature in the way that it attempts to overcome some of the flaws identified in previous studies. In our analysis we have identified and corrected the presence of outliers, which are quite often neglected, and if not controlled can actually compromise the macro-economic analysis of this region. The results from this study should primarily contribute to guide policymakers in their decisions, thus helping them to draw growth-promoting policies in their respective countries.

In several Caribbean states, unregulated investment schemes grew quickly in recent years by claiming unusually high monthly returns and through a system of referrals by existing members. These are features shared with traditional Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes. This paper describes the growth of such schemes, their subsequent collapse, and the policy response of regulators, and presents key policy lessons. The analysis and recommendations draw on country experiences in the Caribbean, and in such diverse countries as the United States, Colombia, Lesotho, and Albania

This research brings together digital inequality scholars from across the Americas and Caribbean to examine efforts to tackle digital inequality in Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica, the United States, and Canada. As the case studies show, governmental policy has an important role to play in reducing digital disparities, particularly for potential users in rural or remote areas, as well as populations with great economic disparities. We find that public policy can effectively reduce access gaps when it combines the trifecta of network, device, and skill provision, especially through educational institutions. We also note, that urban populations have benefitted from digital inclusion strategies to a greater degree. This underscores that, no matter the national context, rural-urban digital inequality (and often associated economic inequality) is resistant to change. Even when access is provided, potential users may not find it affordable, lack skills, and/or see no benefit in adoption. We see the greatest potential for future digital inclusion in two related approaches: 1) initiatives that connect with hard-to-reach, remote, and rural communities outside urban cores and 2) initiatives that learn from communities about how best to provide digital resources while respecting their diversely situated contexts, while meeting social, economic and political needs.

This study investigates the role of non-renewable and renewable energy consumption in the sustainable development in 16 Latin America and Caribbean Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDEs) incorporating capital, government expenditure, institution quality, financial development, and trade openness by a multivariate framework using annual data from 1990 to 2014. We apply second-generation techniques for heterogeneous panel data as the presence of cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity is detected. Accordingly, CADF and CIPS unit root tests show that all variables are integrated at order 1. Westerlund cointegration test acknowledges the long-run relationship among the variables. The long-run estimation is conducted by the Augmented Mean Group (AMG), Mean Group (MG) and Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) estimators. The findings indicate that, in the long run, renewable and non-renewable energy use, along with other factors including government expenditure, gross fixed capital formation, trade openness and financial development, positively affects the economic growth in the selected countries. The empirical results imply that the EMDEs in Latin America and the Caribbean should appropriately implement fiscal policies for macroeconomic stabilization in combination with finance and international trade policies as well as effective energy strategies to attain their sustainable development objectives.