Nations must often take stock of their achievements and forge ahead with new directions to confront the changing realities in economics and politics. This imposes new demands and burdens on leadership. What should be the approach and the new role of leadership in fostering change and development of small states? Research is an essential task that must be undertaken to inform new directions. The value of this collection of essays lies in the experience and expertise of the authors who have acquired considerable hands-on knowledge over several decades as practitioners and intellectuals. They include people who have served as Prime Ministers and Ministers of Government, senior professionals from International Organizations, university Professors, and a Central Bank Governor. Together they draw on the changing issues of the times and provide new propositions for future directions. This book is a thoughtful study of political economy of development. A valuable, timely, stimulating and inspirational reading for political leaders, development experts and scholars; it contains the ingredients for an anticipated new global political economy within the next decade.

This study is about informal institutions in informal finance and microfinance in Jamaica and Trinidad-Tobago. Informal institutions are understood as unwritten social norms that cater to specific needs in the society, and can be indirectly captured and measured in their outcome. The institutional framework of this study helps capture the institutional dynamics and the processes in informal finance and microfinance. The framework demonstrates that informal institutions exist in both informal finance and formal microfinance, exposes the interface between financial intermediaries and the informal institutions through certain mechanisms like joint liability and social collateral that reduce information asymmetries and transactions costs. The study also includes an empirical investigation of client needs, preference and benefits that provides the evidence as to why they subscribe to informal institutions via the various financial intermediaries. Academics and students in the area of institutional analysis would particularly find this study of interest. The study also provides some insights to microfinance practitioners in the Caribbean regarding client preferences.