Tourism's contribution to economic output in the Caribbean exceeds that in other regions of the world. We use panel data over the period of three decades, focusing exclusively on Caribbean islands, to study the causal link between tourism and economic growth. The results show that tourism has a positive and statistically significant effect on real Gross Domestic Product growth. A 10% increase in tourism spending is found to increase economic growth from 0.3% to 1%, a finding that is consistent with similar studies. A simple back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that the overall tourism multiplier is around 0.25 which is smaller than estimates from previous studies. These results have important implications for researchers, industry practitioners, and policymakers.

This quantitative descriptive study analyzed levels of acculturative stress and sociocultural adaptation among international students at a non-metropolitan university in the United States related to certain demographic characteristics. Surveys were used to measure international students’ levels of acculturative stress and sociocultural adaptation, including five subscales of sociocultural adaptation (N = 413). Demographic questions included gender, age, and country of origin, length of stay in the United States, degree level, and English language comfort. Results indicated a negative correlation between students’ levels of sociocultural adaptation and acculturative stress. Particularly, increased competency among the five sociocultural adaptation subscales (interpersonal communication, academic/work performance, personal interests and community involvement, ecological adaptation, and language proficiency) decreased levels of acculturative stress among the students.

International students studying at higher education institutions in the United States experience challenges as they adjust to new environments. Social connectedness to American college students could mitigate such challenges and assist international students with social and cultural integration. This study, using qualitative data from interviews, examined international students’ experiences and their sense of belonging on an American college campus, including the factors that contribute to or deter from it.

As we continue into the new millennium, it is imperative that educational institutions equip graduates with the knowledge and skills that are increasingly needed and valued by business and industry. In this article, the authors argue that the case study approach and, specifically, case study competitions constitute an ideal pedagogical strategy for achieving this objective in an effective and efficient manner, with resulting benefits for both students and employers.

Tourism expenditure in Caribbean countries represents the single largest inflow of foreign exchange and is associated with a significant amount of international capital flows. Yet, the relationship between tourism and financial development (FD) has received scant attention in the academic literature. This article focuses on whether tourism promotes FD in Caribbean economies. We do so by using newly constructed data on tourism flows to the region during the period 1980–2013. We find that tourist expenditure, on average, has a positive and significant impact on various measures of FD. At our most conservative estimates, we find that by increasing tourism expenditures per capita by about $1200 (USD), depth in the financial system improves by about 10–15%, while efficiency increases by about 34%. Our results are robust to instrumental variables, system generalized method of moments, and limited information maximum likelihood estimation techniques as well as to a variety of measures of FD. Such findings may have important policy implications related to facilitating growth and development through an increase in efficiency in the system of FD.