Remittances and economic growth: A study of Guyana

Using an augmented Solow framework and an ARDL bounds test for cointegration, we explore the short- and long-run effects of remittances, aid and financial deepening on growth in Guyana using annual data for the period 1982–2010. The results show that remittances have a positive and significant effect both in the short and the long run. Aid has a negative effect in the long run and financial deepening is not statistically significant. The Granger-causality test reveals that capital stock, aid and financial deepening cause remittances inflow in Guyana.     

Where There Is No Company: Indigenous Peoples,Sustainability, and the Challenges of Mid-Stream Mining Reforms in Guyana's Small-Scale Gold Sector

Much of the hype behind ‘sustainable mining’ elaborates ‘best practices’ using a spatial and temporal framework primarily applicable to large-scale, company-driven mines unfolding in the future. This approach confines already producing fields to peripheral concerns and obscures artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) production from mainstream debates on sustainable mining and indigenous rights. The article provides an overview of mining reforms on multiple scales and a case study of Guyana's gold sector. Looking closely at ASM processes in the Upper Mazaruni river basin, the traditional homeland of the indigenous Akawaio and Arekuna, the evidence reveals a compelling case for denying the hype of sustainable mining. Oddly enough, indigenous involvement with mining presents a unique opportunity to rethink progressive ASM designs for two key reasons. First, vested interests in long-term survival on the same land are a qualitative advantage for overcoming the limits of short-term, fragmented engagements with mid-stream ASM activity. Second, the embedded ecological knowledge of indigenous communities can inform more inclusive, place-based interdisciplinary frameworks for reforming ASM and building lasting solutions through a holistic approach.     

Impact of cultured shrimp industry on wild shrimp fisheries: analysis of price determination mechanisms and market dynamics

Cultured shrimp production has been growing dramatically on the world market over the last 15 years and some of the farm‐raised species are now considered as price‐indicators on the main market places. One may, therefore, expect the price of theses cultured shrimp to have an impact on the price formation of other species and especially on wild shrimp with which they compete. In this paper, the authors address this question in the case of the wild shrimp Penaeus subtilis exploited by the French Guyana fishery (South America) and competing on the French market with the cultured Thai shrimp ‘Back Tiger’. A series of econometric tests issued from the co‐integration theory is performed between the price series of the two products. These tests indicate that the two series are co‐integrated and that the black tiger market acts as a market leader for the French Guyana shrimp product. The authors then discuss the reasons of the current predominance of farm‐raised shrimp on wild‐caught product (and in particular the French Guyana shrimp) and identify the constraints that the French market demand induces on both producers and importers. In the light of this analysis, a commercial strategy that would mitigate the impact of the Thai shrimp on the French Guyana product is suggested.