Sinopsis de la obra en idioma inglés.

This paper analyzes the way in which Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago neutralized the changes in international reserves due to different external shocks from 1969 to 1986. The economies of Trinidad and Barbados, which different external conditions, were found to be able to neutralize these external shocks (Trinidad through substantial fiscal deficits and Barbados by developing its banking system, maintaining stable monetary coefficients and conservative fiscal policies). Both avoided monetization and major fluctuations in their money supply. Jamaica, which is a diversified economy with serious external debt problems and deteriorating terms of trade, followed a very expansionist fiscal policy during the 70's; however, it has been able to neutralize external shocks to a great extent, compensating the fall in its external net assets with an increase in net government bonds. The indicators of development in the financial sector used for the analysis show that the financial systems of Barbados and Jamaica are comparable to those in major semi-industrial countries, but the banking sector in Trinidad is not as developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]