Donald J. Harris

Donald Jasper Harris, OM (born August 23, 1938) is a Jamaican-American economist and professor emeritus at Stanford University, known for applying post-Keynesian ideas to development economics.^[1]

Harris was raised in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, attending the University College of the West Indies before earning a Bachelor's degree from the University of London 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. He was the first Black scholar granted tenure in the Stanford Department of Economics.

His 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.^[2] He served in Jamaica, at various times, as economic policy consultant to the government and as economic adviser to successive prime ministers.^[3][4] On October 18, 2021, he was honored with the Order of Merit, Jamaica's National Honor award, "for his outstanding contribution to national development".^[5]

He is the father of US Vice President Kamala Harris and lawyer Maya Harris.