Dear Editor,
I was aware of Sir Courtney Blackman’s writings during my dissertation write up at The New School for Social Research – particularly his heterodox model of the foreign exchange market. I first met him in person at the 42nd Annual Monetary Studies Conference in Trinidad and Tobago. That was 2010. I bought a copy of his book “The Practice of Economic Management: A Caribbean Perspective” which he signed on Nov 10 of that year. We became friends and would have multiple meetings at his home in Bradenton, Florida, and in a few restaurants in the Sarasota-Bradenton area where I teach and live.
I think he was an ardent Keynesian, at least by then. I very much enjoyed his wise company, thoughts on Keynes’ voluminous writings, critiques of and thoughts on Caribbean economics, as well as his scrumptious rum punch. I would not say to which Caribbean country’s rum he was most partial. However, I would briefly discuss what a profound impact he has had on my post-graduation intellectual evolution regarding economic development and the macroeconomic stabilization problem in small open economies.
First, he discussed the glorious Barbadian revolution whereby the early Prime Ministers stayed away from nationalization of foreign enterprises. In the end, the revolution was won and glorious because Barbadians would eventually manage (and own) these enterprises. His idea was based on the theory that nationalization would place severe stress on management capacity of the island. He was not so concerned about finance capital as much as management capital. This was no idle theorizing. He proposed, in the abovementioned book, a systems-approach to economic management instead of a market-based approach. He was acutely aware of the weaknesses of markets and the troubles they can bring if not properly managed.
That was for me the economic development insight, especially when I juxtaposed his wisdom with the disastrous policy of nationalization in my country of origin, Guyana. Without him telling me explicitly, I realized there is a Barbadian model of economic development. His basic insight made me discover other viable small-economy models underpinned by democratic ideals such as the Mauritian and Botswanan models. These days, I reserve a part of my syllabus for these alternative systems from the Global South.
Second, on the stabilization problem, he was way ahead of the present mainstream literature, emerging recently in the American Economic Review, which shows that weakening a country’s currency – namely those in the periphery – does not produce the export boost and import contraction as predicted by the dominant textbook model. He demonstrated this idea with a model of the foreign exchange market in which there is indeterminacy. He was aware, as the new literature has confirmed (and Darrin Downes and myself have tested in 2018-19), that the crucial exchange rate of Barbados or say Guyana is not the bilateral rate vis-à-vis the dollar, but the dollar’s rate relative to the trading partners of the United States.
In closing, he had many other fundamental ideas such as, for example, how a Caribbean monetary system could work. My deepest condolences go out to Gloria and his family. His writings will live on for many years to come.
Sincerely,
Tarron Khemraj
