model Δ ca * it = α i + β i * ca * it − 1 + ε it where ca * i is the trade balance, as a share of GDP, of country i with respect to the CARICOM group, computed by summing relevant bilateral imports and exports. The MGE estimates an average β of −0.34, lower than the beta found for global integration. This is reminiscent to results such as the ones in Bayoumi and Rose (1993) who showed that the slope parameter, in a Feldstein-Horioka estimation of
At the beginning of the 1960s the countries that now constitute the Caricom group all had stable currencies, managed, in the case of English-speaking countries, by currency boards, and denominated in sterling. The British Caribbean Currency Board (BCCB), headquartered in Port of Spain, Trinidad, issued a currency which circulated from British Guiana (now Guyana) in the south through the eastern Caribbean to St. Kitts, Nevis, and Anguilla in the north. The Jamaican currency board issued a currency which also circulated in the Cayman Islands, and there were separate