IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/eurjdr/v32y2020i3d10.1057_s41287-019-00237-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Community Divided: Top Incomes in CARICOM Member States

Author

Listed:
  • Collin Constantine

    (SOAS, University of London)

Abstract

Using a newly created dataset, this article documents the trends in top income shares for CARICOM member states during the 1960–2015 period. Belize, Suriname, Guyana, Jamaica and Haiti are high-inequality countries as compared to Trinidad & Tobago, The Bahamas, Barbados and St. Lucia. Barbados is the only low-inequality country that is converging to its high-inequality peers, while Belize experiences the greatest decline in top income share. The article argues that differential European settlement and land size are colonial origins explaining why member states are divided into high- and low-inequality groups. However, the article demonstrates the importance of policy for distributional outcomes—like the role of Offshore Financial Centres in the case of Barbados. The paper also shows how structural adjustment policies and natural disasters can account for the volatility observed in top incomes. Finally, the article proposes that the lack of inequality-reducing structural change is an important explanation for the enormous holding power of top incomes across the community.

Suggested Citation

  • Collin Constantine, 2020. "A Community Divided: Top Incomes in CARICOM Member States," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(3), pages 738-758, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:32:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1057_s41287-019-00237-z
    DOI: 10.1057/s41287-019-00237-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41287-019-00237-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41287-019-00237-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael DaCosta, 2007. "Colonial Origins, Institutions and Economic Performance in the Caribbean: Guyana and Barbados," IMF Working Papers 2007/043, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Anthony B. Atkinson & Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2011. "Top Incomes in the Long Run of History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-71, March.
    3. Lahoti Rahul & Jayadev Arjun & Reddy Sanjay, 2016. "The Global Consumption and Income Project (GCIP): An Overview," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 61-108, June.
    4. Alan M. Taylor & Mark P. Taylor, 2004. "The Purchasing Power Parity Debate," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 135-158, Fall.
    5. Rahul Lahoti & Arjun Jayadev & Sanjay G. Reddy, 2014. "The Global Consumption and Income Project (GCIP): An Introduction and Preliminary Findings," LIS Working papers 621, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    6. -, 2014. "Compacts for Equality: Towards a Sustainable Future," Documentos de posición del período de sesiones de la Comisión 36693, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    7. Steven N. Kaplan & Joshua Rauh, 2010. "Wall Street and Main Street: What Contributes to the Rise in the Highest Incomes?," NBER Chapters, in: Corporate Governance, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Jean-Paul Carvalho & Christian Dippel, 0. "Elite Identity and Political Accountability: A Tale of Ten Islands," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(631), pages 1995-2029.
    9. Sanjay G. Reddy & Rahul Lahoti, 2015. "$1.90 Per Day: What Does it Say?," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 189, Courant Research Centre PEG.
    10. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00847231 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Gabriel Zucman, 2014. "Taxing across Borders: Tracking Personal Wealth and Corporate Profits," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 121-148, Fall.
    12. Zucman, Gabriel & Fagan, Teresa Lavender & Piketty, Thomas, 2015. "The Hidden Wealth of Nations," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226245423, Febrero.
    13. Rahul Lahoti & Arjun Jayadev & Sanjay G. Reddy, 2015. "The global consumption and income project: An introduction and preliminary findings," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-003, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Facundo Alvaredo & Anthony Atkinson & Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2013. "The Top 1% in International and Historical Perspective," Post-Print halshs-00847231, HAL.
    15. Arjun Jayadev & Rahul Lahoti & Sanjay G. Reddy, 2015. "Who got what, then and now? A Fifty Year Overview from the Global Consumption and Income Project," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 174, Courant Research Centre PEG.
    16. -, 2014. "Compacts for Equality: Towards a Sustainable Future," Libros y Documentos Institucionales, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 36693 edited by Eclac, February.
    17. Alan M. Taylor & Mark P. Taylor, 2004. "The Purchasing Power Parity Debate," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 135-158, Fall.
    18. World Bank, 2011. "Jamaica - Country Economic Memorandum : Unlocking Growth," World Bank Publications - Reports 2756, The World Bank Group.
    19. Sanjay Reddy & Rahul Lahoti & Arjun Jayadev, 2015. "The global consumption and income project: An introduction and preliminary findings," WIDER Working Paper Series 003, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Facundo Alvaredo & Anthony B. Atkinson & Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2013. "The Top 1 Percent in International and Historical Perspective," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(3), pages 3-20, Summer.
    21. Jean-Paul Carvalho & Christian Dippel, 2016. "Elite Identity and Political Accountability: A Tale of Ten Islands," NBER Working Papers 22777, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Milanovic, Branko, 2012. "Global income inequality by the numbers : in history and now --an overview--," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6259, The World Bank.
    23. Mr. Simon Cueva & Mr. Stephen Tokarick & Mr. Erik J. Lundback & Ms. Janet Gale Stotsky & Mr. Samuel P. Itam, 2000. "Developments and Challenges in the Caribbean Region," IMF Occasional Papers 2000/016, International Monetary Fund.
    24. International Monetary Fund, 1998. "Belize: Recent Economic Developments," IMF Staff Country Reports 1998/109, 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. Bettarelli, Luca & Estefania-Flores, Julia & Furceri, Davide & Loungani, Prakash & Pizzuto, Pietro, 2023. "Energy inflation and consumption inequality," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    2. Francisco G. Ferreira & Nora Lustig & Daniel Teles, 2015. "Appraising cross-national income inequality databases: An introduction," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(4), pages 497-526, December.
    3. Oliver Denk, 2015. "Who are the top 1% earners in Europe?," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1274, OECD Publishing.
    4. Salvatore Morelli, 2018. "Banking crises in the US: the response of top income shares in a historical perspective," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(2), pages 257-294, June.
    5. Damián Vergara, 2022. "Do policies and institutions matter for pre-tax income inequality? Cross-country evidence," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(1), pages 30-52, February.
    6. Anna & Leonardo Weller, 2018. "Was Cold War A Constraint To Income Inequality?," Anais do XLIV Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 44th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 94, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    7. Vincenzo Carrieri & Francesco Principe & Michele Raitano, 2018. "What makes you ‘super-rich’? New evidence from an analysis of football players’ wages," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(4), pages 950-973.
    8. Yuri Biondi & Simone Righi, 2019. "Inequality, mobility and the financial accumulation process: a computational economic analysis," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 14(1), pages 93-119, March.
    9. Seth D. Zimmerman, 2019. "Elite Colleges and Upward Mobility to Top Jobs and Top Incomes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(1), pages 1-47, January.
    10. Pasquale Tridico, 2015. "The Rise Of Income Inequality In Oecd Countries," Departmental Working Papers of Economics - University 'Roma Tre' 0201, Department of Economics - University Roma Tre.
    11. Cabral, René & García-Díaz, Rocío & Mollick, André Varella, 2016. "Does globalization affect top income inequality?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 916-940.
    12. Alvaredo, Facundo & Cogneau, Denis & Piketty, Thomas, 2021. "Income inequality under colonial rule. Evidence from French Algeria, Cameroon, Tunisia, and Vietnam and comparisons with British colonies 1920–1960," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    13. Atanu Ghoshray & Issam Malki & Javier Ordóñez, 2022. "On the long-run dynamics of income and wealth inequality," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 375-408, February.
    14. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Herault, Nicolas & Jenkins, Stephen P. & Wilkins, Roger, 2016. "What Has Been Happening to UK Income Inequality since the Mid-1990s? Answers from Reconciled and Combined Household Survey and Tax Return Data," IZA Discussion Papers 9718, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Mirza, M. Usman & Richter, Andries & van Nes, Egbert H. & Scheffer, Marten, 2019. "Technology driven inequality leads to poverty and resource depletion," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 215-226.
    16. Stefan Thewissen & Lane Kenworthy & Brian Nolan & Max Roser & Tim Smeeding, 2018. "Rising Income Inequality and Living Standards in OECD Countries: How Does the Middle Fare?," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 26(2), pages 1-23, July.
    17. Burdín, Gabriel & De Rosa, Mauricio & Vigorito, Andrea & Vilá, Joan, 2022. "Falling inequality and the growing capital income share: Reconciling divergent trends in survey and tax data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    18. Holger M. Mueller & Paige P. Ouimet & Elena Simintzi, 2015. "Wage Inequality and Firm Growth," LIS Working papers 632, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    19. Keller, Wolfgang & Olney, William W., 2021. "Globalization and executive compensation," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    20. Mehdi El Herradi & Aurélien Leroy, 2020. "Monetary policy and the top one percent: Evidence from a century of modern economic history," AMSE Working Papers 2047, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    CARICOM; Top income share; inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • F63 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Economic Development
    • N36 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • O54 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:pal:eurjdr:v:32:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1057_s41287-019-00237-z. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    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.