Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Caribbean Development Trends

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Agribusiness
    • Antigua and Barbuda
    • Barbados
    • BehaviorChange
    • Belize
    • Bermuda
    • biodiversity
    • Blockchain
    • Caribbean
    • Caribbean Culture and Media
    • Climate Change
    • Creative Economy
    • Crime Prevention and Citizen Security
    • Data and Knowledge
    • De-risking
    • Dominica
    • Dutch
    • Early Childhood Development
    • Economic Growth
    • Education Policy
    • energy
    • entrepreneurship
    • Environmental and Climate Change
    • Events
    • Extractives
    • Finance
    • Fiscal Rules
    • gender
    • Governance and Regulatory Policy Reforms
    • Grenada
    • Guyana
    • Haiti
    • Health
    • Health Policy
    • Hurricane
    • Hurricane Irma
    • infrastructure
    • Innovation and change
    • Intellectual Property
    • IWD
    • Jamaica
    • JumpCaribbean
    • Labor
    • Labour Markets
    • MOOC
    • Music
    • Natural Disasters
    • Nurturing Institutions
    • OECS
    • Podcast
    • Poverty
    • Private Sector and Entrepreneurship
    • Saint Kitts and Nevis
    • Saint Lucia
    • Saint Vincent and Grenadines
    • skills
    • Sports for Development
    • Suriname
    • Technology
    • The Bahamas
    • The Blue Economy
    • Transportation
    • Tourism
    • Trinidad and Tobago
    • Uncategorized
    • VAWG
    • Webinar
    • women
    • Women for Change
    • youth
  • Country Offices
    • Bahamas
    • Barbados
    • Guyana
    • Jamaica
    • Suriname
    • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Press Releases
    • Bahamas
    • Barbados
    • Guyana
    • Jamaica
    • Suriname
    • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Authors

Colonization and Institutions in the Caribbean

May 17, 2019 by Jeetendra Khadan Leave a Comment


Institutions and the historical conditions that influenced their formation are now widely considered important to understanding differences in economic development across countries. There are alternative views on the channels through which the colonial experience influenced present-day development outcomes. Some economists have argued in favor of a “colonizer effect,” whereby British colonies benefited from legal systems that were favorable for economic performance, compared to other colonial powers.

Pre-Existing Conditions Vs The Colonizer Effect

Others have emphasized that pre-existing conditions – among them the existence of coercive states (such as in Mexico), the suitability of soil for plantations (such as in the Caribbean), and mortality rates among early European settlers –  had a strong influence on whether the colonists set up extractive states or, to the contrary, established “neo-European” settler states with good institutions that protected property rights, promoted the rule of law, enforced constraints on politicians, and provided equal opportunity to the majority of the population.

This is an important issue to explore in the Caribbean context, given that European colonists had a profound influence on the region’s politics, economy, and institutions. In this regard, a chapter entitled “Colonization and Institutions in the Caribbean” in a recent IDB publication, Nurturing Institutions for a Resilient Caribbean (IDB, 2018) examined the link between colonialism and present-day institutions in the Caribbean. The colonization experience persists in the former colonies through their constitutions, language, education systems, transportation and trade linkages, and ethnic composition, as well as the economic models they follow. In terms of language, the official language of the former British colonies is English, while it is Dutch for Suriname.

On attaining independence, the ex-British Caribbean colonies adopted the Westminster model of government. Similarly, the economic model and trade linkages that were in place during the colonial period were reinforced by the Yaoundé trade agreements and the Lomé commercial conventions. Moreover, through slavery and indentureship, colonialism altered the ethnic composition of Caribbean populations, which later influenced the organization of political parties in some countries.

Colonization’s Impact on Policy-Making in Today’s Caribbean States

The chapter on “Colonization and Institutions in the Caribbean” reviewed the literature on key aspects of Caribbean countries that link colonialism with present-day institutions, then took stock of what one should expect regarding the quality of institutions today in the Caribbean given their colonial legacies. That analysis is undertaken by examining current features of public policy and government capabilities.

The main findings showed that with respect to the features of “good” policymaking, the worst outcomes appear to be associated with ethnic diversity, being a non-ex-British colony, and having been colonized through extractive institutions. The best outcomes are observed for The Bahamas, which was an ex-British colony, was not extractive, and is not ethnically diverse. Similar evidence was observed for measures of government capabilities.

Most Caribbean countries do particularly poorly in one of the features of policymaking – the “public-regardedness” dimension, which measures the extent to which policies pursued are in the public interest or whether they tend to be directed towards the benefit of special interest groups. This observation was reinforced, particularly for Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, by an assessment of the state capture index across small countries.

For more analysis on Caribbean institutions, please go to IDB’s recent publication: Nurturing Institutions for a Resilient Caribbean.

 


Filed Under: Diversity & Inclusion, Economic Growth, Economy & Investment, Nurturing Institutions

Jeetendra Khadan

Jeetendra Khadan is a former Senior Economist who held the position of Country Economist for Suriname within the Caribbean Country Department at the Inter-American Development Bank. He also worked as the Country Economist for Trinidad and Tobago and Research Consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC. Prior to that, Jeetendra worked as a lecturer in the Economics Department at The University of The West Indies, St. Augustine campus where he taught courses on international trade, international finance, economic integration, econometrics and mathematical economics, and was the lead researcher on several projects for international and government organizations. Jeetendra has written and published books, book chapters, and articles in peer-reviewed academic journals such as The Economic Journal, Empirical Economic Letters, Research in Applied Economics, Economics Bulletin, Journal of Developing Areas, Economies, Journal of Social and Economic Studies, Transition Journal, Journal of Eastern Caribbean Studies, UWI Press, the International Monetary Fund, and Inter-American Development Bank working paper series on issues related to trade policy, macroeconomics, private sector development and other contemporary issues. Jeetendra holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of the West Indies.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

Search

Caribbean Dev Trends

We provide unique and timely insights on the Caribbean and its political, social, and economic development. At the IDB, we strive to improve lives in the Caribbean by creating vibrant and resilient economies where people are safe, productive and happy.

Similar posts

  • Three key lessons on institutions in Barbados from IDB’s “Nurturing Institutions for a Resilient Caribbean”
  • 5 Reasons Why Trade Agreements in Latin America and the Caribbean Matter
  • Could Distributed Ledger Technology improve Caribbean trade?
  • What do you mean by “Caribbean” anyway?
  • Fiscal Councils: Cutting edge fiscal architecture, or panacea?

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

    Blog posts written by Bank employees:

    Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


    For blogs written by external parties:

    For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

    The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

    Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



    Privacy Policy

    Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

    Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

    Aviso Legal

    Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

    facebook
    twitter
    youtube