Well, on the final night there I decided to ask the proprietor of not one but four of such restaurants a couple of questions. (While we did get a chance to visit the above-pictured fish fry, it is not one of the four belonging to the gentleman in question.) Let's call this Bahamian entrepreneur "Mr. Bob".
ME: Mr. Bob, how easy is it to open a business in the Bahamas?
MR. BOB: Very easy! Very easy! You just call me and Mr. Bob will make it happen!
ME: Ok. Well, let's say that I didn't know you. How hard would it be then?
MR. BOB: Very hard! Very hard! You have to call me and I know people.
After that last part, Mr. Bob made some allusions to parliament members and made a hand motion that could only be interpreted as, um, having someone by the ... well, you get the point. Later on one of our WVU grad students, Travis, asked similar questions of a taxi driver. The answers were similar to the extent that they involved tales of bribes and "knowing the right people".
Apparently the Bahamian economy is an unfortunate example of one where institutions (i.e., the "rules of the game") are such that a lot of effort gets channeled into unproductive rent-seeking (even if the ultimate aim is to be able to pursue productive entrepreneurial activities).
One is reminded of Hernando de Soto's The Mystery of Capital. Very few economists spend time "in the field" documenting how difficult it is to pursue productive entrepreneurship around the globe. When de Soto did so for a handful of countries, just looking at his book's diagrams of contorted, years-long paths to start businesses is shocking to the American eye. Sadly, this is the reality for most of the world's economies.
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