Introduction
In the two or three decades since most countries of the Caribbean gained political independence, the public sector has played a central role - sometimes advancing their development and other times retarding or diverting it. The behavior and effects of the public sector vary widely across the 15 countries involved in the Caribbean Group for Cooperation in Economic Development, so it is useful to view them from more than one perspective. Achieving the growth and development to which the Caribbean countries aspire will require strengthening the public sector in many dimensions. To provide background for the World Bank Report on Public Sector Modernization in the Caribbean.