Caribbean Economic Development Case Study

The Caribbean still has a long way to go to make it into the top 50 states that sit atop the annually ranked countries in the United Nations Human Development Index Report (U.N.H.D.I.).It assesses 189 countries and based on its criteria (longevity, education, and income per capita) classifies these countries into Very High Human Development (the first 62); High Human Development (63^rd-116^th); Medium (117^th-153^rd) and Low (the last 36 countries). Barbados was ranked highest in our region at 56^th, The Bahamas next at 60^th,Trinidad & Tobago 63^rd, Cuba 72nd,St. Kitts & Nevis 73^rd;Antigua & Barbuda 74^th; St. Lucia 85^th, the Dominican Rep. at 89^th; St. Vincent & The Grenadines 94^th; Jamaica at 96^th; with both Dominica & Suriname coming in at 98^th; Guyana at 123^rd; and Haiti at 169^th. The top four ranked countries were Norway, Switzerland, Ireland, and Germany.

Unfortunately, most countries may regress after 2020, with the worldwide pandemic which threatens to wipe out many of the previous gains. Jamaica's H.D.I. in particular increased from 0.641 in 1998 to 0.726 in 2018.Its life expectancy went up 1.2%; mean years of schooling rose by 3.9 years, expected years of schooling rose by 1.9 years. For every 100,000 live births, only 89 women diedfrom pregnancy related causes, and the adolescent birth rate decreased to 52.8 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19 years.

The four phases of the Industrial Revolution have been: The First (1 IR) which was driven by steam engines; the Second (2 IR) by electronics and energy services (electricity, oil and gas); the third (3 IR) by mainframe computer, microprocessors, and telecommunications. The Fourth (4 IR) involves a variety of integrated technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT), block chain, artificial intelligence,3D printing, autonomous vehicles, 5G wireless, closed computing, big data analytics, and renewable energy.

BASED ON ABOVE ANSWER ALL THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:(APA rubrics are to be used)

Questions:

1: With the Caribbean traditionally having a high level of "brain drain", explain why this is so and why the year 2020 may in fact reduce thislevel of attrition overseas, until conditions return to "normal"?(4marks)

2: Explain fully THREE impacts the year 2020 has have, and will have on the ranking of Caribbean states, up or down the HDI?(3 marks)

3:What should Caribbean countries do to improve their ranking in the U.N.H.D.I. given that many have high debt payment costs to meet and less government support payments?(3 marks)

4: What can a country do internally to ensure that more persons can benefit from development gains?(2 marks)

5: Explain what areas Jamaica should focus its expertise on during the 4^th Industrial Revolution? (2 marks))

6: What are some intervention strategies that could be used to give more students better access to education at all levels(primary, secondary and tertiary) and avoid the "digital divide" involved in on-line learning , from what is happening in 2020? (4 marks)