Chapter 4

 INCOME ELASTICITIES OF DEMAND IN OTHER WEST INDIAN TERRITORIES


 The estimates of income elasticity for the other West Indian territories are rather less
firmly established than those for Jamaica, since, apart from the article by Cumper already\
referred to and some unpublished work by Taylor there is little direct evidence on which
to base them. Cumper's estimates of income elasticity relate to Barbados in 1951-52 and
to British Guiana in 1956. In both cases the foods with the highest elasticities were meat
and dairy products, for which the figures reached or surpassed unity; most other foods
fell within a range of values from about 0.4 to about 0.8, but cereals in British Guiana had
a small negative elasticity when home-produced rice was included, though a positive value
of about one-half was reached when it was excluded.

 On the whole the evidence did not seem to justify any major departure from the elasti-
city values arrived at for Jamaica except where this was clearly indicated by the known
differences between the territories in income levels and in the general patterns of food
consumption. It will be seen however from Table 3.4. i. in which the estimated levels of
food consumption and expenditure in the different territories are compared, that some of
these differences are important.

 The principal contrast between the diets of the four areas is in the consumption of ce-
reals, which is much higher in British Guiana and Trinidad and Tobago than in Jamaica or
the smaller islands. This is mainly due to the large consumption of rice in British Guiana
and Trinidad and Tobago, both of which have considerable numbers of East Indians in the
population. Roots and starchy vegetables are consumed in relatively small quantities in
these territories, especially in British Guiana, where peasant agriculture is mainly cen-
tred on the production of rice. In the smaller islands, the general pattern of consumption
resembles that of Jamaica, as does the racial constitution of the population. The popula-
tions of the individual islands in this group differ from one another in many respects, but
ti is possible to find social groups within the Jamaican community with fairly strong resem
blances to each of them. The Windward Islands are paralleled by the hill areas of Jamaica
and share with them a common dependence on a similar type of subsistence agriculture,
while Barbados and the Leeward Islands are comparable with the flatter and lower-lying
regions of Jamaica which are dominated, like them, by the plantation sugar economy.

 In comparing the estimates of food expenditure and gross domestic product, there are
 certain differences in price levels between the territories which should be taken into ac-
 count. Food prices and retail prices in general are probably highest in Jamaica and lowest
 in British Guiana and Barbados. Thus the difference in gross domestic product per capital
 between Jamaica and British Guiana was less in real terms than appears from the table,