STANFORD
UNIVERSITY | Department of Economics
Donald J.
Harris
Professional Career
1.
In Brief
Donald Harris joined the Stanford faculty in 1972,
coming from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) where he had been appointed
tenured professor three years after graduating from the University of
California (Berkeley). At Stanford, he
was a leader in developing the new program in Alternative Approaches to Economic Analysis as a field of graduate
study. For many years he also taught the
popular undergraduate course Theory of
Capitalist Development.
His research and publications have centered on exploring
the analytical conception of the process of capital accumulation and its
implications for a theory of growth of the economy, with the aim of providing
thereby an explanation of the intrinsic character of growth as a process of uneven development. From this standpoint, he has sought to
critically assess the inherited traditions of economic analysis as well as
contemporary contributions, while engaging in related empirical and historical
studies of various countries’ experience.
He has travelled widely, doing research, consulting,
or giving seminars and invited lectures, in the Caribbean and in Canada,
England, Holland, France, Italy, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica,
Guatemala, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong,
Thailand.
Throughout his career he has had a continuing
engagement with work on the economy of Jamaica, his native country. He served there, at various times, as
economic consultant to the Government of Jamaica and as economic adviser to
successive Prime Ministers.
He took early retirement
from Stanford in 1998 in order to pursue more actively
and practically his long-standing interest, which originally motivated him to
take up the study of economics, in developing public policies to promote
economic growth, unleash productive capabilities, and advance social equity.
2. Academic Degrees
B.A. (UCWI-London U.), 1960
Ph.D. (U. California-Berkeley), 1966
3. Fellowships and Awards
Shell Scholar (Jamaica), 1957
Issa Scholar (Jamaica), 1961
Faculty Fellow, Economics, Cambridge University,
England, 1966
Ford Foundation Visiting Fellow, Delhi School of
Economics, India, 1968
Associate Fellow, Clare Hall, Cambridge University,
England, 1969, 1971
Distinguished Visiting Professor, Yale University,
1977-78
Associate Fellow, Trinity College, Cambridge
University, England, 1982
National Research Council-Ford Foundation Fellow,
1984-85
Fulbright Scholar, Brazil, 1990, 1991
Fulbright Scholar, Mexico, 1992
Visiting Scholar, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington,
DC, 1993-94
Order of Merit, Jamaica National Award, 2021
4. Academic Appointments
1998- present Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Stanford
University
1972-98 Professor of Economics, Stanford
University.
1986-87 Director,
Consortium Graduate School of Social Sciences (UWI, Jamaica)
1968-72 Associate
Professor, University of Wisconsin (Madison).
1967-68 Assistant
Professor, Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.)
1966-67 Assistant
Professor, University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana, Ill.)
5. Professional Activities
Academic teaching, research, economic consultant,
public policy advisor.
Consultant to international agencies (UN, UNCTAD,
UNDP, IDB, World Bank), governments, and private foundations.
Research projects, seminars and
invited lectures in various countries.
Books; numerous papers published in leading
professional journals; conference papers; policy documents; review articles and
commentaries.
Topics covered: capital theory; income
distribution; growth theory; economic development; technological change;
macroeconomic policy; industrial policy; finance; international
competitiveness; econometric models and estimation; economic history; national
and regional economies (U. S. economy; Jamaica; Caribbean; Latin America).
7. Citizenship
Jamaica (by birth); USA (by naturalization).