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Donald J. Harris

Donald Jasper Harris, OM (born August 23, 1938) is a Jamaican-American economist and emeritus professor at Stanford University, known for applying post-Keynesian ideas to development economics.[2] He was the first Black scholar granted tenure in the Stanford Department of Economics, and he is the father of Kamala Harris, the incumbent vice president of the United States and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, and of Maya Harris, a lawyer, advocate and writer.

The Honourable
Donald Harris
OM
Harris in 1974
Born
Donald Jasper Harris

(1938-08-23) August 23, 1938 (age 86)
Brown's Town, Colony of Jamaica
Citizenship
  • Jamaica
  • United States
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1963; div. 1971)​

Carol Kirlew[1]
Children
RelativesHarris family
Academic background
EducationUniversity College of the West Indies (BA)
University of California, Berkeley (PhD)
ThesisInflation, Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth : A Theoretical and Numerical Analysis (1966)
Doctoral advisorDaniel McFadden
Academic work
DisciplineEconomics
Sub-disciplinePost-Keynesian development economics
Institutions
Doctoral students
WebsiteStanford Department of Economics page

Harris was raised in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, earning a Bachelor's degree from the University College of the West Indies and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He held professorships at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University, and University of Wisconsin-Madison before joining Stanford University as professor of economics.

Harris's 1978 book Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution critiques mainstream economic theories, using mathematical modeling to propose an alternative model for thinking about the effects of capital accumulation on income inequality, economic growth, instability, and other phenomena. He has worked extensively on analysis and policy regarding the economy of Jamaica.[3] He served in Jamaica, at various times, as economic policy consultant to the government and as economic adviser to successive prime ministers.[4][5][6] In 2021, he was awarded Jamaica's Order of Merit, the country's third-highest national honor, for his "contribution to national development".[4][7]

Early life

Donald Jasper Harris was born in Brown's Town, St. Ann Parish, Jamaica, the son of Oscar Joseph Harris and Beryl Christie Harris (née Finegan),[8][9] who were Afro-Jamaicans.[10][11] As a child, Harris learned the catechism, was baptized and confirmed in the Anglican Church, and served as an acolyte.[12]

Harris's paternal grandmother, born Christiana Brown, told Harris that she was descended from Irish-born plantation owner Hamilton Brown (1776–1843), who founded the local Anglican Church where she is buried.[12]

Harris grew up in the Orange Hill area of Saint Ann Parish, near Brown's Town[13][14] and graduated from Titchfield High School in Port Antonio.[15] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University College of the West Indies (then part of the University of London) in 1960, and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966.[4][16] His doctoral dissertation, Inflation, Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth: A Theoretical and Numerical Analysis, was supervised by econometrician Daniel McFadden.[17]

Career

Harris was an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1966 to 1967 and at Northwestern University from 1967 to 1968. He moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison as an associate professor in 1968. In 1972, he joined the faculty of Stanford University as a professor of economics, and became the first black scholar to be granted tenure in Stanford's Department of Economics.[4][18] At various times, he was a visiting fellow in Cambridge University and Delhi School of Economics; and visiting professor at Yale University.[16] He served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Economic Literature and the journal Social and Economic Studies.[19][20] He is a longtime member of the American Economic Association.[21]

Harris directed the Consortium Graduate School of Social Sciences at the University of the West Indies in 1986–1987, and he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Brasília in 1990[22] and 1991, and in Mexico in 1992. In 1998, he retired from Stanford, becoming a professor emeritus.[16]

At Stanford, Harris's doctoral students have included Steven Fazzari, a professor of economics at Washington University in St. Louis,[17] and Robert A. Blecker, a professor of economics at American University in Washington, D.C.[18] Harris helped to develop the new program in Alternative Approaches to Economic Analysis as a field of graduate study.[16] For many years, he also taught the undergraduate course Theory of Capitalist Development. He took early retirement from Stanford in 1998 in order to pursue his interest in developing public policies to promote economic growth and advance social equity.[23][24][25]

Contributions to economic analysis and policy

Harris's economic philosophy was critical of mainstream economics and questioned orthodox assumptions.[18] The New York Times described him as "a prominent critic of mainstream economic theory from the left".[18]

Harris's research and publications have focused on exploring the process of capital accumulation and its implications for economic growth, arguing that economic inequality and uneven development are inevitable properties of economic growth in a market economy.[26]

Harris is said to work in the tradition of Post-Keynesian economics.[27][2][28] He has acknowledged the works of Joan Robinson, Maurice Dobb, Piero Sraffa, Michal Kalecki, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter, and W. Arthur Lewis as influences upon his work.[3][29][30][31][27]

One of Harris's most notable contributions to economics is his 1978 monograph Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution,[32] which is a critique of orthodox economic theories that provides an alternative, synthesizing the work of David Ricardo, Kalecki, Marx, Roy Harrod, and others. Harris employs mathematical modeling to explore the relationship between the accumulation of capital and income inequality, economic growth, economic instability, and other phenomena, arguing that typical theories fail to adequately consider power, class, and historical context.[33][34]

Harris has done research on the economy of Jamaica, presenting analyses and reports on the structural conditions, historical performance, and contemporary problems of the economy, as well as developing plans and policies for promoting economic growth and social inclusion.[3][4] Notable outcomes of this effort are the National Industrial Policy promulgated by the Government of Jamaica in 1996[35][36] and the Growth Inducement Strategy of 2011.[37][38]

He has published several books on the economy of Jamaica, including Jamaica's Export Economy: Towards a Strategy of Export-led Growth (Ian Randle Publishers, 1997)[39] and A Growth-Inducement Strategy for Jamaica in the Short and Medium Term (edited with G. Hutchinson, Planning Institute of Jamaica, 2012).[40] Jamaica has in recent years been considered an economic success story, as it has achieved sustained economic growth and large reductions in public debt, and some allies attribute this success to an agreement between Jamaica and the International Monetary Fund that was made possible through Harris's growth strategy for Jamaica.[4]

Personal life

Harris arrived at the University of California, Berkeley on the Issa Scholarship (founded and funded by Kingston merchant Elias A. Issa in the 1930s) in the fall of 1961.[41] Later in the fall of 1962, he spoke at a meeting of the Afro-American Association, a students' group at Berkeley.[41] After his talk, he met Shyamala Gopalan (1938–2009), a graduate student in nutrition and endocrinology from India at UC Berkeley who was in the audience.[41] According to Harris, "We talked then, continued to talk at a subsequent meeting, and at another, and another."[41] In July 1963, he married Shyamala.[41]

Harris and Shyamala had two children: Kamala Harris, the 49th vice president of the United States; and Maya Harris, a lawyer and political commentator;[18][41] the couple divorced in 1971.[42] The children visited Harris's family in Jamaica as they grew up.[4][43][44] Harris dedicated his 1978 book to his daughters.[4] He has led a largely private life amid his children's rise to prominence, declining nearly all interview requests.[45][46] Over the years, Kamala Harris has described her relationship with her father as cordial but distant, owing to her being primarily raised by her mother.[47]

At some time prior to May 2015, Harris became a naturalized U.S. citizen, and reportedly has a residence in Washington, D.C.[16][48][49][45] In the 1990s Harris remarried, to Carol Kirlew, a Jamaican-American who worked in communications for the World Bank.[50]

Selected publications

Books

  • Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution, Stanford University Press, 1978. ISBN 0-8047-0947-5.
  • Jamaica's Export Economy: Towards a Strategy of Export-led Growth, Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers, 1997. ISBN 976-8123-43-5.
  • A Growth-Inducement Strategy for Jamaica in the Short and Medium Term (edited with G. Hutchinson), Kingston, The Planning Institute of Jamaica, 2012. ISBN 978-976-8103-39-0.

Articles

References

  1. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/04/us/politics/kamala-harris-father.html
  2. ^ a b "Donald J. Harris, 1938–". The History of Economic Thought. Institute for New Economic Thinking. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c "Donald J. Harris". Stanford University | Department of Economics.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Stein, Jeff (August 13, 2024). "Jamaican officials needed help. They turned to Kamala Harris's dad". Washington Post.
  5. ^ Patterson, Percival J. (2018). My Political Journey. University of the West Indies Press. p. 220. ISBN 9789766407018.
  6. ^ "Planning Institute of Jamaica Hires Growth Expert". The Gleaner. Kingston, Jamaica. November 24, 2010.
  7. ^ "Prof Donald Harris, father of US vice president, to receive Jamaica's third highest honour". Jamaica Observer. August 5, 2021. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  8. ^ McDermott, Peter (September 23, 2020). "Running mates share a family name". The Irish Echo. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  9. ^ "Who is Donald Harris? Kamala's Jamaican dad is a prominent economist". Loop Caribbean News. November 10, 2020. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  10. ^ Burack, Emily (September 10, 2024). "A Guide to Kamala Harris's Family Tree". Town & Country. Retrieved October 24, 2024. Donald J. Harris (b. August 23, 1938) was born in Brown's Town, Jamaica, to Oscar Joseph Harris and Beryl Christie Finegan, Afro-Jamaicans.
  11. ^ Shaw, Todd; Louis Desipio; Dianne Pinderhughes; Lorrie Frasure; Toni-Michelle Travis C. (2024). Uneven Roads: An Introduction to U.S. Racial and Ethnic Politics. CQ Press. ISBN 978-1-0718-2458-0. Contrast this with former Democratic U.S. senator from California Kamala Harris, who is the first woman of color to be elected vice president of the United States. Harris's mother was Indian and her father was of Afro-Jamaican ancestry.
  12. ^ a b Harris, Donald J. (September 26, 2018). "Reflections of a Jamaican Father". The Harris name comes from my paternal grandfather Joseph Alexander Harris, land-owner and agricultural 'produce' exporter (mostly pimento or all-spice), who died in 1939 one year after I was born and is buried in the church yard of the magnificent Anglican Church which Hamilton Brown built in Brown's Town (and where, as a child, I learned the catechism, was baptized and confirmed, and served as an acolyte), as published in "Kamala Harris' Jamaican Heritage". Jamaica Global Online. January 14, 2019.
  13. ^ Harris, Donald J. (September 26, 2018). "Reflections of a Jamaican Father". I would go to her shop to wait for the drive home to Orange Hill, as published in "Kamala Harris' Jamaican Heritage". Jamaica Global Online. January 14, 2019.
  14. ^ "Did U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris' Ancestor Own Slaves in Jamaica?". Snopes.
  15. ^ "'Honoured and humbled' by Order of Merit". Jamaica Observer. August 8, 2021. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  16. ^ a b c d e "Donald J. Harris Professional career". Stanford University. Archived from the original on April 5, 2015. Retrieved October 12, 2020. Citizenship .. Jamaica (by birth); USA (by naturalization).
  17. ^ a b Donald J. Harris at the Mathematics Genealogy Project. North Dakota State University.
  18. ^ a b c d e Barry, Ellen (August 21, 2020). "Kamala Harris's father, a footnote in her speeches, is a prominent economist". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  19. ^ "Nominating Committee Members and Editorial Boards". The American Economic Review. 75 (6): 653–654. 1985. JSTOR 1914337.
  20. ^ "Social and Economic Studies | JSTOR".
  21. ^ "Historical Overview". The University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica | Faculty of Social Sciences.
  22. ^ "Donald Harris". fulbrightscholars.org. Fulbright Scholar Program. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
  23. ^ Rodrik, Dani; Perez, Carlota; Nesvetailova, Anastasia; Harris, Donald J.; MacFarlane, Laurie; Perrons, Diane (2018). "Searching for an alternative economic model". IPPR Progressive Review. 25 (2): 114–132. doi:10.1111/newe.12107. S2CID 158883249.
  24. ^ "'Better' education, trade breaks hurt Caribbean nations, economist says" (Press release). Stanford University News Service. October 19, 1994.
  25. ^ "A new economic plan for Jamaica". Jamaica Observer. March 18, 2011.
  26. ^ "Who's Who in Economics" (Third ed.). 1990. pp. 499–500.
  27. ^ a b Cassidy, John (November 2, 2024). "The Economic Philosophy of Donald Harris". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X.
  28. ^ Harcourt, Geoffrey (2006). The Structure of Post-Keynesian Economics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521833875.
  29. ^ Harcourt, G. C. (2012). "Joan Robinson and Her Circle (2005)". The Making of a Post-Keynesian Economist. pp. 183–200. doi:10.1057/9780230348653_12. ISBN 978-1-349-32988-5.
  30. ^ Steedman, Ian (1988). Sraffian Economics. Vol. I. Edward Elgar.
  31. ^ Howard, M.C.; King, J.E. (1976). The Economics of Marx, Penguin Education.
  32. ^ Reviews of Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution:
    • Kurz, Heinz D. (1979). "Reviewed Work: Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution Donald J. Harris". Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv. 115 (4): 776–779. JSTOR 40438898.
    • Mainwaring, Lynn (June 1979). "Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution. By Donald J. Harris". The Economic Journal. 89 (354): 447–449. doi:10.2307/2231629. JSTOR 2231629.
    • Lefeber, Louis; Steedman, Ian (August 1979). "Reviewed Work: Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution Donald J. Harris". The Canadian Journal of Economics. 12 (3): 545–546. doi:10.2307/134753. JSTOR 134753.
    • Jones-Hendrickson, S. B. (March 1980). "Review: Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution Donald J. Harris". Social and Economic Studies. 29 (1): 144–146. JSTOR 27861872.
    • Baru, Sanjaya (April 19, 1980). "Inadequacies of New Growth Theory". Economic and Political Weekly. 15 (16): 741–742. JSTOR 4368585.
    • Baru, Sanjaya (May 1980). "Capitalist Accumulation and Theories of Growth". Social Scientist. 8 (10): 65–69. doi:10.2307/3516645. JSTOR 3516645.
    • Pashardes, Panos (July 1980). "Review of Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution". The Journal of Development Studies. 16 (4): 487–488. doi:10.1080/00220388008421774.
    • Harcourt, G.C. (September 1980). "Review: Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution. Donald J. Harris". Journal of Economic Literature. 18 (3): 1084–1086. JSTOR 2723980.
    • Taylor, LeRoy O. (June 1981). "Review Article: Donald J. Harris, Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution (Routledge and Kegan Paul), 1978, 313p". Social and Economic Studies. 30 (2): 164–174. JSTOR 27861942.
    • Menchik, Paul L.; Eloian, Edward M. (October 1981). "Review: Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution by Donald J. Harris". Southern Economic Journal. 48 (2): 540. doi:10.2307/1057969. JSTOR 1057969.
    • Glynn, Sean (December 1981). "Profitability and Unemployment". The Economic Journal. 91 (364): 1039–1041. doi:10.2307/2232513. JSTOR 2232513.
  33. ^ Jones-Hendrickson, S. B. (1980). "Review of Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution". Social and Economic Studies. 29 (1): 144–146. JSTOR 27861872.
  34. ^ Harris, Donald J. (1975). "The Theory of Economic Growth: A Critique and Reformulation". The American Economic Review. 65 (2): 329–337. JSTOR 1818873.
  35. ^ "National Industrial Policy, A Strategic Plan for Growth and Development". Jamaica Information Service. April 25, 1996.
  36. ^ Gomes, Anthony (August 17, 2003). "The National Industrial Policy revisited". Jamaica Observer.
  37. ^ Hutchinson, Gladstone; Harris, Donald J., eds. (2012). "A Growth-Inducement Strategy for Jamaica in the Short and Medium Term" (PDF). Kingston, Jamaica: Planning Institute of Jamaica.
  38. ^ McIntosh, Douglas (March 22, 2011). "PIOJ introduces Growth Inducement Strategy". Jamaica Information Service.
  39. ^ Collister, Keith (November 15, 2017). "How the IMF can help Jamaica unleash growth". Jamaica Observer.
  40. ^ Collister, Keith (October 22, 2014). "How to unlock growth in Jamaica". Jamaica Observer.
  41. ^ a b c d e f Barry, Ellen (September 13, 2020). "How Kamala Harris's Immigrant Parents Found a Home, and Each Other, in a Black Study Group". The New York Times. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  42. ^ Rani, Rikha Sharma (October 25, 2020). "The Woman Who Led Kamala Harris to This Moment". The Atlantic. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
  43. ^ Harris, Donald J. (September 26, 2018). "Reflections of a Jamaican Father". In their early years, I tried to convey this message in very concrete terms, through frequent visits to Jamaica and engaging life there in all its richness and complexity, as published in "Kamala Harris' Jamaican Heritage". Jamaica Global Online. January 14, 2019.
  44. ^ Dolan, Casey (February 10, 2019). "How Kamala Harris' immigrant parents shaped her life – and her political outlook". The Mercury News. Retrieved August 14, 2020. Kamala also visited far-flung family in India and Jamaica as she grew up, getting her first taste of the broader world.
  45. ^ a b Schouten, Fredreka; Zoë Todd; Curt Merrill; Byron Manley (August 17, 2024). "Kamala Harris's family history runs deep in Brown's Town, Jamaica". CNN. Retrieved August 17, 2024. Donald Harris did not respond to several interview requests from CNN and largely has shied away from publicity — even as his daughter stands on the cusp of another history-making milestone in his adopted country.
  46. ^ Cadelago, Cadelago (February 20, 2019). "Kamala Harris shamed by Jamaican father over pot-smoking joke". Politico. Retrieved August 17, 2024. In an email reviewed by Politico, Donald Harris indicated he wasn't interested in discussing the issue further publicly: 'I have decided to stay out of all the political hullabaloo by not engaging in any interviews with the media," he wrote.
  47. ^ Green, Erica L. (August 24, 2024). "'Run, Kamala, Run': Mention of Harris's Father Was a Rare Homage to a Fleeting Figure". The New York Times. Retrieved August 24, 2024. In a 2003 interview with SF Weekly, she said: 'My father is a good guy, but we are not close.' [...] in 2021, Ms. Harris wrote in an email to The Washington Post that they were on 'good terms,' which remains true today, according to people close to Ms. Harris.
  48. ^ McBride, Jessica (February 21, 2019). "Donald Harris, Kamala Harris's Father: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2019. Donald Harris is also known as Donald J. Harris. He was born in Jamaica and is a naturalized U.S. citizen, according to his Stanford University biography.
  49. ^ Chon, Monica (August 12, 2020). "Sen. Kamala Harris's Parents Met During the Civil Rights Movement". Oprah Magazine. According to Harris's 2018 autobiography, Donald was born in Jamaica in 1938 and immigrated to the United States to get his doctorate degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He eventually became a naturalized United States citizen.
  50. ^ Draper, Robert (October 4, 2024). "Kamala Harris and the Influence of an Estranged Father Just Two Miles Away". The New York Times.


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