Buying Local in a Small Import-Dependent Economy

Dependency theory premises that the colonial powers of Europe benefitted economically by keeping their colonies in a state of low value-added production and import dependence for most of their modern history. Proposed by Latin American and Caribbean scholars as the rationale for persistent underdevelopment in their home countries, the dependency framework has been subject to a barrage of criticism in First World economic literature since the middle of the 20th century. This book revisits the controversial theory in a novel context. It takes a microeconomic perspective, and considers whether consumers in the small, post-colonial state of Barbados would respond to a national ’buy local’ campaign message, in the face of constant media exposure, and increasingly liberalized access to First World brands.