The increasing visibility of individuals engaging in small-scale business enterprises outside formal wage employment has been a topic of debate for many years, in many countries. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is no exception. In fact, the informal economy has become a persistent feature of the region's economic landscape and has been thriving, as documented by leading Caribbean scholars. Informal Commercial Importers in CARICOM is the first book to examine the various dimensions of informal commercial importing from an aggregate CARICOM perspective, emphasizing the economic dimensions and providing three empirical surveys of informal commercial importing in Guyana, Dominica and Jamaica. Roger Hosein and Martin Franklin provide a rich survey of the literature on shuttle trading, which aids in contextualizing the range of factors that has given rise to shuttle trading in CARICOM and enabled its longevity. They discuss the possible effects of formalizing the informal trade in CARICOM economies and propose strategies that can aid in this formalization process.While this book is written to appeal to an academic audience, it also provides essential reading for policymakers, research scholars and practitioners alike, and it provides a foundation for further studies of the shuttle trade in a changing Caribbean.

Agricultural trade is a major factor determining food security in Caribbean countries. In these small open economies, exports are essential, whilst imports provide a large part of the food supply. This book examines various dimensions of trade policy and related issues and suggests policies to address trade and food security and rural development linkages. It is as a guide and reference documents for agricultural trade policy analysts, trade negotiators, policy-makers and planners in both the public and private sectors.

Regional integration has emerged as perhaps the most controversial issue within the Caribbean. While some progress in implementing economic reforms, both at the national and regional level are observable, the efforts made by Caribbean policymakers to strengthen regional cooperation and integration have not yielded the envisioned level of economic transformation. Caribbean Trade and Integration distinguishes itself by combining history with sound economic and policy analysis. Moreover, this book reviews a survey of several key historical studies that have identified the urgent need for a change in policy action among Caribbean Community member states over time and that have outlined many pointed policy suggestions to effect the same. The book culminates by addressing the need to unpause the Caribbean Single Market and Economy and proposes a number of initiatives to generate this outcome. While this book is written to appeal to an academic audience, it also provides essential reading for policy practitioners, stakeholder groups, the CARICOM Secretariat and those interested in the dynamics of Caribbean regional integration.

Explains process of importing goods into the U.S., including informed compliance, invoices, duty assessments, classification and value, marking requirements, etc.