01
Productivity and growth
Why output per worker stalls in small economies, and how skills, management and innovation in firms can lift it.
Professor of Economics · Associate Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences
The University of the West Indies, Mona
Small economies have mastered stability. Growth and development are the unfinished work.
Andre Haughton studies how small open economies like Jamaica and its Caribbean neighbors can move from stabilization to real development — through productivity, innovation, institutions and human capital.
Distinctions
- 2018Most Outstanding UWI Alumnus of the Decade, 1999–2008
- 2017IMF Distinguished Academic Fellow
- 2017Most Outstanding Researcher, Faculty of Social Sciences
- 2024Most Outstanding Research Project, Faculty of Social Sciences
Scholar: British Commonwealth (PhD) · Thomas De La Rue (MSc) · KPMG Peat Marwick (BSc)
Prof. Andre HaughtonKingston, Jamaica
IMF Fellow
Distinguished Academic Fellow of the International Monetary Fund, 2017
2 books
with Palgrave Macmillan on balance of payments and productivity in small countries
10+ papers
in journals including Economic Modelling and Energy Economics
270+
Gleaner Briefing columns explaining the economy since 2012
Areas of thought
Four questions that shape a small nation's future
His research runs from applied macroeconomics and econometrics to the practical choices facing central banks, ministries of finance and firms across the region.
02
Money, finance and digital payments
Monetary policy and inflation, the long-run neutrality of money, and how trust shapes the adoption of digital payments and JAM-DEX.
03
The external constraint
Balance of payments sustainability, foreign exchange, public debt and the exposure of small open economies to global shocks.
04
Climate and development finance
The economic and financial case for adaptation investment in Caribbean small island developing states.
Framework in development
The Macroeconomic Operating System
From the forthcoming Economics for the New World. The framework treats an economy as an operating system of six resources and six processes, and asks what keeps it locked in deadlock. It extends the tradition of W. Arthur Lewis toward a practical goal: convergence by design.
Request the working paperFive hindrances to development
- IAllocation failures
- IICoordination failures
- IIIRule failures
- IVFlow failures
- VAspiration failures
Books and publications
Lessons from Jamaica for small countries everywhere
Developing Sustainable Balance of Payments in Small Countries
Andre Haughton
Palgrave Macmillan, 2017
Lessons from macroeconomic deadlock in Jamaica. Grew out of a 40-year study of foreign-currency flows for the Edward Seaga Research Institute, and was presented to the IMF in Washington.
Overcoming Productivity Challenges in Small Countries
Haughton & Ivey
Palgrave Macmillan, 2022
With Wendel Ivey. Evidence that most Jamaican industries could hold output steady with less labor, and what that means for wages and policy.
Cash, Control and Connectivity
Forthcoming
Forthcoming
Digital payment adoption in Jamaica, drawn from a national survey, with trust in government as a measurable barrier.
Escaping Macroeconomic Deadlock
The Art of Macroeconomic Management
Forthcoming
How developing economies break out of low-growth traps, first presented at the IEA–IDB roundtable marking 100 years since Arthur Lewis's birth.
Selected research
- Interest rate volatility, asymmetric pass-through and the monetary transmission mechanism: Asia, the Caribbean and the USEconomic Modelling, 2012 · with Emma Iglesias
- The value of the US dollar and its impact on oil pricesEnergy Economics, 2018 · with Roger McLeod
- Monetary policy and stock prices: a comparison between the Caribbean and the USApplied Financial Economics, 2013 · with Emma Iglesias
- Assessing long-run money neutrality in monetary unionsInternational Journal of Finance and Economics, 2013 · with Emma Iglesias
- Measuring the sustainability and effectiveness of social value creation in developing countriesAcademy of Entrepreneurship Journal, 2014 · Distinguished Research Best Paper Award
Awards and scholarships
- 2024Most Outstanding Research Project, Faculty of Social Sciences, UWI
- 2018Most Outstanding UWI Alumnus of the Decade, 1999–2008
- 2017Distinguished Academic Fellow, International Monetary Fund
- 2017Most Outstanding Researcher, Faculty of Social Sciences, UWI
- 2012Distinguished Research Best Paper Award, Academy of Entrepreneurship
- 2007–2011British Commonwealth Scholar, PhD in Economics, University of Essex
- 2003–2005Thomas De La Rue Scholar, MSc Economics, UWI Mona
- 2001–2003KPMG Peat Marwick Scholar, BSc Economics and Accounting (First Class Honours)
Public commentary
The Gleaner Briefing
A column in The Gleaner since December 2012. More than 270 instalments that explain inflation, debt, exchange rates and investment in plain language, with the data behind every claim.
Op-eds also in the Jamaica Observer. The columns are being collected into a book, Chronicles of a Small Open Economy.
Open the Gleaner archiveAdvisory and policy
Evidence for the decisions governments and investors make
As Chief Economist and CEO of CEAC Solutions, Andre leads economic and financial assessments for climate adaptation projects submitted to the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund, working closely with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre.
Also
Economist on the Green Paper establishing Jamaica's Environmental Regulations Agency (2012)
Economic impact assessments for the Caribbean Premier League (for Digicel), the JCDC Festival and Jamaica's community colleges
PSOJ Economic Policy Committee (2014–2019) · Board, Students' Loan Bureau (2018–2023) · Jamaica Stock Exchange Best Practice Awards committee
SKN TransWater Programme
Financial and economic feasibility for a project to double the nation's water supply: cost–benefit, NPV/IRR and PPP scenarios, willingness-to-pay surveys.
Demand for climate-resilient infrastructure
Estimated demand for resilient housing and agricultural warehousing across the three largest English-speaking Caribbean economies.
Balance of payments and foreign-currency sustainability
Forty years of Jamaica's foreign-exchange flows, for the Edward Seaga Research Institute.
Citizen's Guide to the National Budget
Translated the national budget into a plain-language guide for citizens, with a method for future editions.
At The UWI
Building the next generation of Caribbean economists
Associate Dean for Partnerships in the Faculty of Social Sciences, leading a drive to fund 150 new scholarships. Founder of the Social Sciences Cannabis Research Group, where more than 100 students have trained in field research, and the Office of Research in Contemporary Economics and Finance. Teaches econometrics and supervises doctoral research.
Partner with the FacultyInnovation
Economics in practice, built in Jamaica
Founder and CEO of Textron Technology, which designs consumer AI products in Jamaica for global markets. Its first product, AiDiA My BFF, is an AI companion bear sold in the United States and Jamaica.
Visit myaidia.comCommunity
The Valley Foundation
Founded in Mount Salem, Montego Bay, in 2011. The Foundation mentors inner-city youth, supplies school materials, and builds social enterprises where young people can earn an income and create value in their own communities.
Support the FoundationSpeaking and media
Keynotes, board briefings and expert commentary
For conferences, boards, central banks, investors and newsrooms that need a clear reading of the Caribbean economy and its place in the world.
Invite Andre to speak
Popular topics
- The Caribbean productivity puzzle
- Digital money, CBDCs and public trust
- Small states in a shifting global economy
- Financing climate adaptation
- From stabilization to development
Has presented at
International Monetary Fund, Washington DC · IEA–IDB Arthur Lewis Centenary Roundtable, Bolivia · World Finance Conference, New York and Rio de Janeiro · World Finance and Banking Symposium, Beijing · Caribbean Monetary Studies Conferences at the central banks of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Guyana · Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica · VM Wealth · Barita Investments
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