Any country which wants to maximize the productivity of its workforce, and to harness the full potential of its people towards economic growth and development, must proactively reduce or eliminate discrimination against groups of people who are excluded from full participation as a result of that discrimination.

In Jamaica, where discrimination against LGBT people is rife and amply documented, such discrimination results in a senseless waste of human potential, with negative implications for the country’s economic growth prospects. This report examines the landscape of sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in Jamaica, and how that discrimination can be directly and indirectly tied to negative economic and social outcomes and thwarted developmental prospects.

Jamaica's extraordinarily high levels of violence undermine citizen security and retard economic growth. Over the past two decades, dozens of state and non-state actors, in a desire for peace, have initiated several violence-reduction/ intervention programmes in August Town. So when, in 2016, the violence plagued community recorded “zero murders,” all of Jamaica took note. The cries about how this was achieved, which, with the exception of 2016 remain unchanged. After decades of extraordinarily high violence, with a homicide rate of 120 per 100,000, how did August Town achieve this?

With reference to August Town’s “zero murders” in 2016, this study explores the various theories with the objective to distil “lessons” from August Town’s experience, particularly as it regards anti-violence interventions, with the aim to build knowledge on the different approaches to reducing violence in high violence settings; and ultimately to inform GoJ decisions regarding the direction of and investment in violence prevention intervention programmes in violence-ridden communities.

Murder and extreme violence are at crisis levels in Montego Bay. The city is also the birthplace and centre of the lottery scamming industry and its offshoots, an industry that generates millions of U.S. dollars a year, and is thought to be connected to the high murder and shooting rates in St. James. This study considers the purported nexus between lottery scamming, gangs, and the high murder rate in St. James by situating St. James’ violence problem in its socio-economic context, and reviews the measures that have been taken over the past decade to tackle both problems.

Jamaicans must face some uncomfortable truths about our violent crime problem. One such truth is that if we are to significantly lower the rates of homicide and other violent crimes and  weaken the power of criminal networks in the society, we cannot avoid a renewed attempt at a thorough transformation of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).  This transformation should bring the force more in line with democratic policing principles and methods of work and make it more effective as an instrument of crime prevention and control. 

Public expenditure on education in Jamaica continues to surpass the average for developing countries, yet low test scores attest to a haemorrhaging education system. This paper assesses the current status and future prospects of nine critical dimensions of education in Jamaica.

The value of the lottery scam in Jamaica is estimated to be as much as US$300 million in one year. As a small developing state with a strong ICT infrastructure, Jamaica has been a haven for international investors seeking to cash in.

The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) recently concluded by the European Union and CARIFORUM (the countries of CARICOM plus the Dominical Republic) replaces the Lomé arrangements and will govern trade between the two regions going forward. Using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, this exercise traces the economic impact of the tariff reductions on European Union imports into the Caribbean and consequently on the economies in the region.

Given the scarcity of fiscal revenue in the country, the resources needed to improve the education system will have to be generated, not through new cash, but through re-allocation. This brief examines the current tertiary funding model and presents funding alternatives.