Professor Alfred Francis

Brief Profile

 

Professor Alfred Francis, known collegially as Al, and affectionately to his students as “Prof”, has been serving the Department of Economics for the past 42 years, during 15 of which he was Head. Even though his  service was broken by a memorable visit as a Rockefeller Foundation

Fellow to Makere University in Uganda , 1972-1974, and an appointment

as the Director of Economics and Technical Information at the International Bauxite Association (IBA),1982-1992, Prof was always accessible to his colleagues in the Department and to his many students.

 

Most of the students of the Department of Economics over the past 45 years were taught by Prof.  Many of the academics served under his Headship, and those who did not, certainly enjoyed and were enriched by his collegiality.  Many of the technocratic leadership of the region – in the Central Banks, the Ministries of Finance, the Statistical offices, the Planning offices as well as regional economic institutions – studied under Prof.   The thoroughness of his thought processes and the clarity of his exposition are legends in the Department’s history. He taught subjects that many students found difficult. Mark Figueroa recalls that: “He taught me Econometrics before I had even done elementary statistics. I did not know what an expectation was when he started writing E(X) on the board yet I was able to get an A in the course”.

 

During these years, he established his reputation as the foremost econometrician in the Caricom region, and a major source of quantitative analysis for policy-makers in the public sectors and executives in the private sectors of the region.  He was a pioneer in the analysis of the growth of economies with “enclave” export sectors, and his work on the optimal taxation of mineral “enclave” economies was a major contribution to public fiscal policy toward mineral export sectors in Jamaica as well as in several developing countries.  In recent years, he has written on the impact of the burden of the national debt and crime on the growth prospects of the Jamaican economy.

 

He retired from the Department in 2000, but continued to serve as George Beckford Professor for 4 years, and was elevated to Professor Emeritus in 2006.  While he no longer has responsibility for teaching courses, he is frequently in the offices and environs of the Department advising and guiding academic staff members and students on their problem sets and projects.  It is hard to see him as anything but the epitome of the scholar-teacher-researcher that the University encourages.

 

Like many great thinkers, it is perhaps his humility that is the most striking first impression, no matter how often one meets him.  That humility in turn frames his caring and sensitive spirit that is nurturing while empowering.   One always leaves the Prof feeling more confident, as if the moral boost could overcome the limitations of one’s knowledge.

 

He leads us by example.  For him, there is no compromising principled behaviour, even when the personal cost is high.  It guided his personal life, and inspired his perspective on national development.  In the generation of intellectuals for whom national development was the raison d’etre for intellectual struggles and labour, he is an acknowledged leader.  Subsequent generations will owe a lot to their pioneering efforts for a long time. 

 

He has set very high standards of academic achievement, of professional and personal integrity, and commitment and leadership as benchmarks for the future. We are all much richer intellectually and morally by his presence.