Event

The Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), hosts the Research Seminar Presentations of PhD Candidates, Mr. John G. Cozier, Mr. Carlos O. Hazel and Ms. Antoinette L. Stewart, on Thursday 25th November, 2010, at the SALISES Conference Centre, UWI.   

The seminar begins at 9 am, with Mr. Cozier’s presentation, titled The Evolution of Stock Markets in the Caribbean: From 1969 and Beyond. Mr. Hazel will follow at 10 am, with his presentation on SAM and CGE Model for Trinidad and Tobago with Applications. The seminar will end with Ms. Stewart’s presentation at 11 am, titled The State of Development of the Bond Markets in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.  

Please see below for the abstracts of each presentation. 

The Evolution of Stock Markets in the Caribbean: From 1969 and Beyond, by Mr. John G. Cozier

This paper represents the first of three papers which seek to examine various aspects of stock market development within the Caribbean. The focus of this paper is primarily to discuss the general nature of the regional stock markets. This would involve an in depth analysis of the three main facets of stock markets: (1) market size, (2) market depth and liquidity, and (3) market risk (volatility) and return. While reference will be given to the many stock exchanges in existence within the region, the analysis will be limited to the three major regional stock exchanges: (1) The Barbados Stock Exchange (B.S.E), (2) The Jamaica Stock Exchange (J.S.E), and (3) The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange (T.T.S.E). The progress made in these areas by these markets will then be compared to those attained by following equity markets: (1) the New York Stock Exchange (N.Y.S.E), (2) the London Stock Exchange, (3) the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX), (4) the Oslo BØrs (Norway), (5) the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (South Africa) and (6) the BM&FBOVESPA S.A (Brazil). The three CARICOM markets seem to still be in a state of underdevelopment with many of its indicators still well below those of the more advanced emerging markets such as Singapore. 

SAM and CGE Model for Trinidad and Tobago with Applications, by Mr. Carlos O. Hazel

This is a proposal for the use of a general equilibrium framework in examining the structure of the economy of Trinidad and Tobago, with the view of gaining some insights into the income distributional and possibly adverse environmental effects associated with the production process. It highlights the need for the construction of a disaggregated Social Accounting Matrix (SAM), which will be use for fixed multiplier analyses and will also serve as a database for the construction of a computable general equilibrium model (CGE) for further analyses.

The State of Development of the Bond Markets in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, by Ms. Antoinette L. Stewart

Caribbean countries’ bond markets are always described as being nascent and underdeveloped. However, the literature contains no work to support or negate this. Many of the assertions on the state of development of Caribbean bond markets are based on partial comparisons of Caribbean bond markets to the US, Asian, Japanese and, most recently, Latin American bond markets. In some cases these comparisons are inequitable given the historical start of the bond markets in these countries and the size of these countries’ economies. This paper seeks to conduct a fairer comparison of Caribbean bond markets to the bond markets of the world by comparing the three more developed bond markets of the Caribbean, specifically the bond markets of Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago to those of more developed bond markets such as the bond markets in Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States for the period 2000 – 2006. The World Bank Financial Sector Development Indicators, as well as characteristics about the bond markets, such as overall size, the regulatory framework, informational and disclosure requirements, and activity in the secondary market, will be used in this assessment of the bond markets.