In the period since 1960 the Caribbean has undergone a series of structural changes that constitute a major break with the past. A visitor coming to the region at the end of the 1950s, after an absence of fifty years, might have been surprised by how little had changed in the intervening period. Another fifty years later, the region would be almost unrecognisable to anyone returning. Whether looking at the economy, the environment, politics or society, the changes have been profound and permanent. For better or worse, and there has been plenty of both, the Caribbean today is very different from the region in 1960.

This chapter focuses on four of the most significant changes in the economy during this period. The first has been the shift within merchandise exports away from agricultural products towards minerals and manufacturing. The days when the Caribbean could be dismissed as dependent on a handful of agricultural exports, such as sugar and bananas, have ended. This transition has not been painless (and is still not complete in a few small countries), but it has taken place with great rapidity.

The second change – even more important than the first – has been the rise of service exports to the point where they account for the majority of export earnings in all but a handful of countries. Indeed, there is no other region of the world that is now so dependent on them, because services constitute such a large part of foreign exchange earnings and exports are a very high share of national income. Tourism has been the main driver of this change, but it has also involved financial, business and government services.