Using a once-popular term, housing is a merit good it can be produced by the private sector, but its benefit to society is deemed by many great enough that governments strive to make it widely available.3 As such, over the course of time, governments have supported homebuilding and in most countries have also encouraged homeownership.4 Governments are involved in housing in a myriad of ways.
BIS Review 99/2008  5  Chart 5  Headline Inflation – Selected Caribbean Economies 2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  Bahamas  1.7  2.1  2.1  3.0  1.0  2.0  1.8  2.5  2.6*  Barbados  2.4  2.8  0.2  1.6  1.4  6.1  7.3  4.1  9.0**  ECCU  1.2  2.3  0.7  1.7  2.8  4.1  1.3  6.1  n.a.