The role of government in enhancing the competitiveness of developing economies: Selective functional intervention in the Caribbean

Abstract

This study examines the recent efforts by the governments of two Caribbean countries to enhance the competitiveness of their economies in the context of the framework of the use of functional versus selective government interventions. In the course of the study, however, it was discovered that rather than focus exclusively on the distinction between functional and selective interventions as if they represent competing models for public policy intervention, it was useful to examine, pragmatically, the range of policy options open to these governments, and then consider the scope and merits of intervention in the context of these policy options. In so doing, it becomes apparent that functional and selective government interventions, to the extent that they are always distinguishable, become points along a continuum, rather than orthogonal lines incapable of being joined. The lesson of these Caribbean economies and, it is argued, of the East Asian experience, is that there is no simple choice between selective and functional interventions for the developing economy seeking to enhance its international competitiveness. Governments of these countries, and others seeking to enhance the international competitiveness of their economies, may well have to be capable of managing the process of selecting functional interventions, and of reducing the risks and improving the functioning of selective interventions.

Citation

Wint, A.G. (1998), "The role of government in enhancing the competitiveness of developing economies: Selective functional intervention in the Caribbean", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 281-299. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513559810225834