The Barbados Model

• Author: Courtney Blackman
• Pages: 404-413

THE PRACTICE OF ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT

404

I have frequently been asked by foreigners: ‘How is it that so small

an island, with so few natural resources, can provide so high a

standard of living for its citizens?’ By the mid-1980s the Washington

international financial institutions (IFIs) were full of praise for

the ‘skill and acumen’ with which we had managed our economic

affairs, and were recommending the ‘Barbados model’ as one to

be emulated by other developing countries — the feature of fiscal

discipline in particular. In recent years the question directed most

frequently to me on the ‘Breakfast Club’, a radio talk show in

Kingston, Jamaica, has been, ‘Why has Barbados’s economic

performance so far outstripped that of Jamaica in spite of the

latter’s larger population and superior natural resource base?’ It

would be false modesty to deny that Barbadians have done well.

With a population of less than 270,000 we boast a per capita

income approaching US$7,000, placing us in the World Bank’s

category of upper middle-income countries, and a literacy rate as

close to 100 per cent. A life expectancy of 73 years, and an infant

mortality rate of less than 15 per 1000 — maternal deaths during

childbirth are a rarity — give us the demographic profile of a

developed country. Indeed, the latest UNDP Human

Development Index, based on the three criteria of national

income, education and health, places Barbados 25th of the more

than 150 countries surveyed, and first among developing countries.

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THE BARBADOS MODEL