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==Early life and education==
==Early life and education==
Harris was born in [[Brown's Town]], St. Ann Parish, Jamaica as the son of Beryl Christie (Finnegan, through her second husband) and Oscar Joseph Harris.<ref>{{cite book |first=Kamala |last=Harris |title=The Truths We Hold: An American Journey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUFkDwAAQBAJ |year=2019 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-525-56072-2 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vUFkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA320 320], [https://books.google.com/books?id=vUFkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA330 330] |quote=my paternal grandfather, Oscar Joseph .. my paternal grandmother, Beryl}}</ref> He grew up in the Orange Hill area of [[Saint Ann Parish]], near Brown's Town.<ref name=Reflections>{{cite article |last=Harris |first=Donald J. |date=26 September 2018 |title=Reflections of a Jamaican Father |url=https://guyaneseonline.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kamala-harris-by-donald-harris.pdf |quote=I would go to her shop to wait for the drive home to Orange Hill}}, as published in {{cite news|date=13 Jan 2019 |archive-date=24 January 2019 |title=Kamala Harris’ Jamaican Heritage |archive-url=http://archive.is/907zm |publisher=[[Jamaica Global Online]] |url=https://www.jamaicaglobalonline.com/kamala-harris-jamaican-heritage/ }}</ref><ref name="snopes">{{cite news |title=Did U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris' Ancestor Own Slaves in Jamaica? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/kamala-harris-ancestor-slaves/ |work=Snopes.com}}</ref>
Harris was born in [[Brown's Town]], St. Ann Parish, Jamaica as the son of Beryl Christie (Finnegan, through her second husband) and Oscar Joseph Harris.<ref>{{cite book |first=Kamala |last=Harris |title=The Truths We Hold: An American Journey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUFkDwAAQBAJ |year=2019 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-525-56072-2 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vUFkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA320 320], [https://books.google.com/books?id=vUFkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA330 330] |quote=my paternal grandfather, Oscar Joseph .. my paternal grandmother, Beryl}}</ref> He grew up in the Orange Hill area of [[Saint Ann Parish]], near Brown's Town.<ref name=Reflections>{{cite article |last=Harris |first=Donald J. He is of Irsih descent. |date=26 September 2018 |title=Reflections of a Jamaican Father |url=https://guyaneseonline.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/kamala-harris-by-donald-harris.pdf |quote=I would go to her shop to wait for the drive home to Orange Hill}}, as published in {{cite news|date=13 Jan 2019 |archive-date=24 January 2019 |title=Kamala Harris’ Jamaican Heritage |archive-url=http://archive.is/907zm |publisher=[[Jamaica Global Online]] |url=https://www.jamaicaglobalonline.com/kamala-harris-jamaican-heritage/ }}</ref><ref name="snopes">{{cite news |title=Did U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris' Ancestor Own Slaves in Jamaica? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/kamala-harris-ancestor-slaves/ |work=Snopes.com}}</ref>


Harris received a Bachelor of Arts from the [[University College of the West Indies]]–[[University of London]] in 1960. In 1963 he came to the United States to earn a PhD from [[University of California, Berkeley]] which he completed in 1966.<ref name=ProCar/> His doctoral dissertation, ''Inflation, Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth: A Theoretical and Numerical Analysis'', was supervised by econometrician [[Daniel McFadden]].<ref name="mg">{{mathgenealogy|id=217978}}</ref>
Harris received a Bachelor of Arts from the [[University College of the West Indies]]–[[University of London]] in 1960. In 1963 he came to the United States to earn a PhD from [[University of California, Berkeley]] which he completed in 1966.<ref name=ProCar/> His doctoral dissertation, ''Inflation, Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth: A Theoretical and Numerical Analysis'', was supervised by econometrician [[Daniel McFadden]].<ref name="mg">{{mathgenealogy|id=217978}}</ref>

Revision as of 17:37, 9 September 2020

File:Donald Harris.jpg
Donald Jasper Harris
Economist and professor emeritus at Stanford University, California
Donald J. Harris
Born (1938-08-23) August 23, 1938 (age 86)
Brown's Town, St. Ann Parish, British Jamaica
Citizenship
  • Jamaica
  • United States
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1963; div. 1971)​
Children
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of London (BA)
University of California, Berkeley (MA, 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 studentsRobert A. Blecker

Donald Jasper Harris (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] He is the father of Kamala Harris, U.S. Senator from California and the 2020 Democratic nominee for vice president, and Maya Harris, a lawyer and political commentator.[2]

Early life and education

Harris was born in Brown's Town, St. Ann Parish, Jamaica as the son of Beryl Christie (Finnegan, through her second husband) and Oscar Joseph Harris.[3] He grew up in the Orange Hill area of Saint Ann Parish, near Brown's Town.[4][5]

Harris received a Bachelor of Arts from the University College of the West Indies–University of London in 1960. In 1963 he came to the United States to earn a PhD from University of California, Berkeley which he completed in 1966.[6] His doctoral dissertation, Inflation, Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth: A Theoretical and Numerical Analysis, was supervised by econometrician Daniel McFadden.[7]

Career

Harris's economic philosophy was critical of mainstream economics and questioned orthodox assumptions; he was once described as a "Marxist scholar" and said to be "too charismatic, a pied piper leading students astray from neo-Classical economics".[2]

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.[2]

He directed the Consortium Graduate School of Social Sciences at the University of the West Indies in 1986–1987, and he was a Fulbright Scholar in Brazil in 1990 and 1991, and in Mexico in 1992. In 1998, he retired from Stanford, becoming a professor emeritus.[6]

At Stanford, his doctoral students have included Steven Fazzari, the Bert A. and Jeanette L. Lynch Distinguished Professor of Economics at Washington University in St. Louis,[7] and Robert A. Blecker, a professor of economics at American University in Washington, D.C.[2]

Books

Harris is the author of the economics monograph Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution, published in 1978 by the Stanford University Press.[8]

He has also published several books on the economy of Jamaica including Jamaica's Export Economy: Towards a Strategy of Export-led Growth (Ian Randle, 1997)[9] and A Growth-Inducement Strategy for Jamaica in the Short and Medium Term (edited with G. Hutchinson, Planning Institute of Jamaica, 2012).[10]

Personal life

Harris moved to the United States in 1963; in July 1963 he married Shyamala Gopalan (1938–2009). They met when he was at Berkeley and both were involved in the U.S. civil rights movement. The couple divorced in December 1971, when daughter Kamala was seven years old and daughter Maya was four years old.[11] The children visited Harris's family in Jamaica as they grew up.[12][4] In later years he became a naturalized U.S. citizen.[6][13][14]

In January 2019 his elder daughter Kamala announced her bid for presidency in the 2020 United States presidential election. In February in response to her “Half my family’s from Jamaica! Are you kidding me?” quip about enjoying inhaling marijuana, Donald condemned her comment:[15]

My dear departed grandmothers, as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics.
Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty.

Kamala suspended her campaign in December 2019, and in March 2020 endorsed Joe Biden, who then chose her as his running mate, making Kamala the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president.[11]

Notes

References

  1. ^ "Donald J. Harris, 1938–". The History of Economic Thought. Institute for New Economic Thinking. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
  2. ^ a b c d Barry, Ellen (August 21, 2020). "Kamala Harris's father, a footnote in her speeches, is a prominent economist". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  3. ^ Harris, Kamala (2019). The Truths We Hold: An American Journey. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 320, 330. ISBN 978-0-525-56072-2. my paternal grandfather, Oscar Joseph .. my paternal grandmother, Beryl
  4. ^ a b Template:Cite article, as published in "Kamala Harris' Jamaican Heritage". Jamaica Global Online. 13 Jan 2019. Archived from the original on 24 January 2019.
  5. ^ "Did U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris' Ancestor Own Slaves in Jamaica?". Snopes.com.
  6. ^ a b c Harris, Donald J. "Professional career". Stanford University. Retrieved 2020-08-11. Citizenship .. Jamaica (by birth); USA (by naturalization).
  7. ^ a b Donald J. Harris at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  8. ^ Reviews of Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution:
  9. ^ Collister, Keith (November 15, 2017). "How the IMF can help Jamaica unleash growth". Jamaica Observer.
  10. ^ Collister, Keith (October 22, 2014). "How to unlock growth in Jamaica". Jamaica Observer.
  11. ^ a b Igoe, Katherine J. (August 11, 2020). "Donald Harris, Kamala Harris's Dad, Is a Renowned Stanford Professor". Marie Claire.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ McBride, Jessica (21 February 2019). "Donald Harris, Kamala Harris's Father: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 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.
  14. ^ Chon, Monica (12 August 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.
  15. ^ Abel, Allen (18 February 2019). "Kamala Harris's father is slamming her for making a 'travesty' of her Jamaican heritage". Macleans.
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