Barbados and Jamaica, a case study.
The experience of these two Caribbean nations holds lessons for governments, both large and small, grappling with the current global crisis, says Henry, the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of International Economics at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “While there is a legitimate and helpful interim role for governments to play in restoring the financial sector back to health,” he says, “extensive and ongoing government intervention in markets—along with the protectionist sentiment that it is likely to arouse—has the potential to cause many more problems than it solves.”
Any lessons for the United States and the spending plans of the current administration here? Doubtful. That’s too bad as we’re going to pay for it. Can you spell inflation?
