This study attempts to extend the scope of existing analyses of unemployment in Jamaica by exploring empirically one aspect of the relation between demand and unemployment. / The central hypothesis is that the structure of consumer expenditures which result from a highly skewed income distribution pattern is a cause of continuing high levels of unemployment. / A static Leontieff-type input-output model is used to generate solutions for industry output levels and associated employment levels, for alternative expenditure patterns resulting from income redistribution. / The results confirm the hypothesis. It was found that although higher employment levels were generally associated with more equitable income distribution structures, employment expansion was also constrained by the absence of intersectoral linkages.

This dissertation advances a model which assumes extreme openness characterised by the absence of nontradables. The pivotal relative price is the real wage which is of central importance in the analysis of devaluation. The model incorporates a simple supply function on the basis that the supply response to a devaluation cannot be taken for granted because of structural factors and unstable expectations characteristic of the transitional period following a devaluation. The effects of devaluation depend on a combination of factors among which are highlighted capitalists' expectations of future stability and the constraints on disabsorption. Our analysis underlines the need for financial assistance to sustain the adjustments associated with devaluation episodes. An econometric application of this model to Jamaica finds devaluation to be adverse both with respect to output growth and the trade balance.

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Particular aspects of contemporary Jamaican culture are revealed as they have been experienced. and perceived by one of its members. Selected events in the life history of a rural Jamaican male are presented and analyzed in terms of his explanations for them and behavioral responses to them. These events also serve as exemplifications or indicators of specific socio-cultural dynamics in Jamaica today. An emphasis is put on economic, ideological, and familial factors generally found in contemporary Jamaica that influenced the perception, attitudes, and behaviors of the subject.