Tag Archives: economics

“[…] The Ministry of Finance website provides budget statements from 2002 onwards. Diversification is mentioned in each budget statement. All 23 years. Undoubtedly, diversification will feature in Budget 2026 when it is read in the coming weeks. “[…] This is not to say that there have been no changes since …

“[…] Now, Trinidad and Tobago is a shadow of its former self, undermined by a lack of innovative leadership, perceived corruption, crime, poor infrastructure and most of all, a culture that has transformed itself into rewarding mediocrity rather than excellence. “[…] Evidence-based decision-making is critical in achieving service excellence… [For …

“[…] Basic economic theory does not always manifest in practice—in fact, it rarely does. To understand if or by how much exports/imports change requires an understanding of how responsive exports/imports are to price changes. This is called elasticity in economics. “[…] Alongside this, the constantly changing geopolitical environment must be …

It has been a long time since I was so captivated by a book that I neglected other activities just to succumb to it. The book, Edible Economics – A Hungry Economist Explains the World, by Ha-Joon Chang, was enlightening, and such a pleasure to read that it was a …

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak with two truly inspiring members of the Cocoa Research Centre (CRC) at The UWI: Professor Pathmanathan Umaharan, its head, and Dr Darin Sukha, its food technologist. I met them 16 years ago, when I started working at the university as …

The budget presented by the Honourable Colm Imbert, minister of finance in the current PNM administration, is his seventh such offering. Not for the first time, he has offered the country a deficit budget, to the tune of $TT9.096 billion, resulting from expenditure in the sum of $TT52.429b and revenue …

On the occasion of the 59th Anniversary of the Independence of Trinidad and Tobago, political leader of the Movement for Social Justice David Abdulah is calling on citizens and patriots to embrace the vision of the Second Republic offered by his party. It should be clear to all, says he, …

“[…] No, no—WASA should not and cannot be privatised! There are some entities which are what you call in economics, natural monopolies. For an economy like Trinidad and Tobago, the production of water is a natural monopoly and the state should do it. “[…] We are going to give WASA …

“[…] From the onset, the pandemic response success criteria—how we determine success in our handling of the crisis—must be identified with clear timelines and key performance indicators. “Is the success criteria primarily medical and public health-related or social and economic as well? It appears that the key or only goal …

“[…] Ultimately policy is made by politicians who of course, may have other considerations which influence their decisions. However, just as it would be folly for politicians to ignore the advice of medical professionals in dealing with the coronavirus public health crisis, so too the laws of Economics are inexorable. …

An Economist article (2011) defined ‘elites’ as people who shape the world without anyone noticing. The rich and powerful leverage their privileged status to exercise decisive control over the way society is organised and developed. I am thankful that Gregory Aboud has opened this discussion. While he did not define …

So the Finance Minister’s budget presentation is over; we all now know the major highlights. I make no apologies for not offering any red or yellow-tinted responses or comments or analyses. I want to break with the sterile ‘This was good’ and ‘That was bad’ tradition and discuss instead what …