The Staple Trap in High-Rent Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

The development trajectory of high-rent Trinidad and Tobago since the 1960s provides an example of the staple trap model. An extra-parliamentary disturbance combined with large oil windfalls through 1974–78 and 1979–81 to deflect an initially cautious developmental government into executing an overambitious strategy of gas-based industrialization. The economy experienced a growth collapse when oil prices faltered, which was protracted and sharply reduced average incomes. Eventual recovery relied on monetizing natural gas, however, which proved a minimum diversification away from hydrocarbon dependence, testifying to the inertia of rent-seeking once established. Governments need to build a political consensus to deploy rent for efficient economic growth. Chapter 5 shows how Mauritius achieved this.