Competitiveness of the Eastern Caribbean microstates: An investigation utilizing a meta-triangulation framework

The first decade of the twenty-first century finds the Eastern Caribbean at economic crossroads: microstates that once thrived on market protection policies now face an economic dispensation characterized by trade liberalization. With "competitiveness" posited as the transitional solution, this study utilized a literature synthesis approach termed meta-triangulation to develop a conceptual framework of microstate competitiveness. The core arguments of the theoretical framework were tested within the six independent microstates of the Eastern Caribbean. Testing enabled an analysis and ranking of their potential and abilities to create an environment conducive to competitiveness and provided answers about their readiness for trade liberalization. The assessment confirmed the vulnerability and economic sub-optimality findings in the small state literature, and more importantly pointed to the need to develop human capital as the source of long-term competitiveness. Developing and sustaining competitiveness within the Eastern Caribbean microstates requires a partnership between governments and society that articulates a vision, and formulates a coherent strategy and implementation plan. Such national strategies ought to take into account integration into the global economy, increased security for these openly vulnerable microstates; resilience-building and protection of the fragile ecosystems, and most importantly, knowledge and technology as the drivers of economic transformation.