Introduction

On September 6, 2017 Category 5 Hurricane Irma with 185 mph winds devastated Anguilla. The UWI Mona, Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work responded to the request from the Anguillan Government’s Ministry of Health and Social Development to conducta three day training in Community Based Psychosocial Support (CBPS). The two facilitators kept a reflection log.

The Event

Over the past five years, the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB) in Jamaica has been struggling to fulfil its mandate of disbursing loans to qualified students. The established government funded SLB was not equipped to handle the 153% increase in loan applications over the period 2007 to 2012.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to share insightson using mobile phone, as an academic tool, in the lecture room.

Design

The prevalence of cybercrime has been an emerging problem since the rise of the technological age. It is posited that cybercrime has been generating a higher payback than drug trafficking and that it is expected to grow further as technology usage expands in developing countries.

Jamaica and the Bahamas are two Caribbean countries whose economies depend heavily on tourism. It is argued that information and communication technology (ICT) is a major contributing factor in enhancing the tourism product, and more specifically its ability to satisfy hotel guests. However, there is relatively little research in this area in the Caribbean.

Introduction

In order to maintain privacy, social, economic and health data are published based on geographic boundaries. However, agencies collect and report these spatial data using the boundaries and/or areas that benefit their mandate (see Figure 1). This results in the misalignment of boundaries when data from different agencies are used to model relationships. Despite this, for effective policy and proper planning, this disparity must be accounted for in any such analysis.

Background

Have you ever taken a close look at your electricity bill and wondered how the priceper kilowatt hour is determined? Did you know that the efficiency performance of Jamaica’s electricity provider relative to those in other countries can influence the price you pay for electricity?

Introduction

Jamaica’s poor fiscal position linked in part to weaknesses in public financial management (PFM) practices and its borrowing relationships with international lenders, accelerated the depth and pace of reforms to improve fiscal responsibility in keeping with international best practices. According to the World Bank, effective institutions and systems of PFM have the potential to increase effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of goods and services, growth, and poverty reduction, hence the imperative to get the reforms right.

Jamaica needs to achieve substantial economic growth for realizing its Vision 2030 to become the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business. This requires stronger global competitiveness in respect of growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

This paper examines how Large Taxpayer Units (LTUs), a commonly-used tool for enforcing tax compliance, affect large firms’ reported profitability and effective tax rate. Increased scrutiny may either improve reporting and compliance efforts, or lead to adverse reactions from large taxpayers such as profit shifting to reduce tax liabilities. We explore the actions of Jamaica's LTU around its $500m large-taxpayer eligibility cut-off using a before-during regression discontinuity approach.