In a dynamic and informative lecture on Wednesday June 7th, Dr. Vanus James prescribed investment in domestic capital as a useful catalyst for enhanced social and economic development in the OECS. Dr. James’ address was the feature presentation at the second in the series of lectures marking the 25th Anniversary of the Signing of the Treaty of Basseterre.

Describing the OECS 25th Anniversary as “A significant development in the Caribbean’s Social Landscape”, the UWI Senior Lecturer, using the Sir Arthur Lewis model as his point of departure, advised that Eastern Caribbean Countries must “think ahead and create the strategy to beat the world”.  He declared that democratization is the single most important form of domestic capital in which a country should invest. The Senior Research Fellow at the UWI School for Graduate Studies furthered that human capital in the form of years of education is one of the more important forms of domestic capital in the Caribbean. Regarding  human resource development Dr. James said persons in the informal business sector should be developed through relevant educational opportunities. Dr. James also noted the importance of including these persons in national decision making to ensure effective representation. He indicated there is enormous potential for growth lying outside the mainstream economy and by accommodating persons within the mainstream economy the benefits will include increased patriotism, social dialogue and investment. He cited institutional capital as a form of domestic capital investment that could help find a balance in responding to the challenges of emigration.“The institutional capital that allows your people to share decision making is essentially about building the capital form we call a serious legislative mechanism that can regulate the behaviour of the executive. Many people don’t believe they are really a first class citizen from that viewpoint because they don’t really have representative institutions that allow them a say. Many of those who leave do so because they don’t feel included.”

James noted the pursuit of economic goals as the number one reason for the departure of many people from OECS Member Countries. However he recommends that if one follows his prescription ofdomestic capital investment, especially driven by education, the economy will rapidly transform and create so many opportunities that a large number of those persons who are leaving for economic reasons will find attractive reasons to stay.“When we propose that we invest in domestic capital as the way to develop the economy we mean also that it will be a major part of the solution to the emigration problem. Not that our people should not for a mix of reasons emigrate in sufficient numbers. One of the gains we make from having our people go abroad is that we were able to build our music industry, exporting much more easily because we have pockets of reverse colonisation in the rest of the world. ..We have set up centers of life that make it easy to market our niche goods and services…But in so far as keeping most of our people here, we need our economies to grow substantially faster than they are growing now and that will only happen if we invest in appropriate domestic physical infrastructure targeting the right people and education targeting the right groups on the scale required.”

He advised that if one raises the standard of living by putting the proper systems in place, the economies of the OECS will strengthen. He remarked that investment in human capital will help to develop a niche product that the OECS Member Countries can export as well as use to attract viable investment. “Let’s make sweet music and bring them here” He furthered that investing in data is among the approaches for improving the social landscape. Dr. James stated that the OECS Member Countries have a good reason to celebrate. “The OECS has a concentration of serious people”. 

Earlier, Director of the OECS Economic Affairs Division Randy Cato highlighted the many accomplishments achieved by the OECS have been modeled by many including the European Community. This is the second in the series of lecture presentations. Grenada hosted the first OECS 25th Anniversary lecture under the auspices of the OECS Bar Association.