Donald J. Harris

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. He is the father of the 49th and current vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris, as well as of her sister, lawyer and political commentator Maya Harris. Throughout his career, Harris has worked on economic analysis and policy regarding the economy of Jamaica, his native country. He served there, at various times, as economic policy consultant to the Government of Jamaica and as economic adviser to successive prime ministers. On October 18, 2021, he was honored with appointment to the Order of Merit, Jamaica's National Honor award, "for his outstanding contribution to national development". Early life and education Donald J. Harris was born in Brown's Town, St. Ann Parish, Jamaica, the son of Beryl Christie Harris (née Finegan) and Oscar Joseph Harris, who were of Afro-Jamaican and Irish-Jamaican heritage and whose father was descendant of slave owners. As a child, Harris learned the catechism, was baptized and confirmed in the Anglican Church, and served as an acolyte. According to Harris, the construction of the local Anglican Church was founded by Hamilton Brown, who Harris believes—in accordance with statements made by his grandmother—is his ancestor. He grew up in the Orange Hill area of Saint Ann Parish, near Brown's Town. Harris received his early education at Titchfield High School. Harris studied at the University College of the West Indies and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of London in 1960 and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966. His doctoral dissertation, Inflation, Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth: A Theoretical and Numerical Analysis, was supervised by econometrician Daniel McFadden.