1st Edition

Persistent Underdevelopment Change and Economic Modernization in the West Indies

By Jay Mandle Copyright 1996
    204 Pages
    by Routledge

    204 Pages
    by Routledge

    First published in 1996, this insightful and informative text examines the post-emancipation and recent economic history of the Commonwealth Caribbean. Jay R. Mandle offers an explanation of the region’s continuing underdevelopment. Through the use of an analytical framework derived from the works of Marx and Kuznets, the book focuses attention on technological change as the driving force behind economic modernization.

    Persistent Underdevelopment begins by exploring how plantation agriculture had a limiting effect on industrial growth. Ultimately, plantation dominance receded; technological stagnation continued, however, and, under British colonial policy the Caribbean failed to modernise. The post-World War II era brought new efforts at modernisation through the economic policies of the left regimes of Manley, Burnham and Bishop. The concluding chapters point the way to policies that would enable the Caribbean to escape its current poverty and become an effective participant in world markets, finally achieving the goal of modern economic development.

    1. The Content of Economic Development  2. The Plantation Economy and Economic Development  3. The Erosion of Plantation Dominance  4."Industrialization by Invitation"  5. Persistent Underdevelopment  6. The Left Regimes  7. Natural Endowments and Economic Development  8. Exports and Education  9. A People Without Borders

    Biography

    Jay Mandle