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published: Sunday | December 10, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody xtUVI="true">
Ian Boyne, Contributor
As we approach a general election campaign when there will be an intense battle for our minds - though primarily our emotions - it is important that non-propagandists committed to evidence-based research take centre stage in the national interest.
Last Thursday, precisely such a group of persons launched the Jamaican Economy Project. Comprising a group of 60 academics, primarily Jamaicans, from across the world and with the key involvement of one of the sharpest minds at the University of the West Indies, Dr. John Rapley, the group has just completed its multidisciplinary study of the Jamaican economy. The study has thrown up some surprising, counter-intuitive findings.
The philistines will dispute the findings and find all kinds of political duppies under the bed, accustomed as they are to 'faith-based' conclusions rather than rigorous scientific analysis. And in our tribalised political culture, if the research does not match the political agenda, then your job as a tribalist is to discredit the researchers, typecast them and dismiss the research findings. Theirs is an important work and a critical mission in this society which has not shown much appreciation for scholarship.
Says the Taking Responsibility document launched last week: "Of course, there is plenty excellent research on the Jamaican economy. The problem is that the research is then discussed in policy and academic circles with reports ending up in bookshelves. What the technocrats learned was not filtered to the rest of the country, so talk shows and newspaper editorials carried on without being aware of new information on Jamaica."
But the problem is not just a Jamaican one. Even policy elites in the developed countries are not keeping abreast of research from the academy and the think tanks the way they should. The Summer 2006 issue of the Harvard International Review has a cover feature, 'Do Ideas Matter?' focusing on the link between policy and research. Says one of the essays, 'Access to Power: Research in International Policymaking' by Professor John Wilkinsky: "It is not yet second nature for policymakers to consult systematic reviews of the relevant research." Information is a critical component of power and the less our elites are given to reading and research, the poorer our societies will be and the more vacuous our public discourse.
It is good that this group of largely young academics have decided to do the hard work of research and analysis, and that they have done such an excellent marketing job of publicising their project. They took their research to the streets (specifically Emanci-pation Park) not to the Pegasus or the Knutsford Court, and this was a very important symbolic gesture.
One of the particularly impressive things to me about their approach to their research is their multidisciplinary approach. Their observations are spot on: "The research on Jamaica, while of high standards, is very disjointed. Economists look at macro-economic issues, criminologists look at crime, sociologists look at anti-social behaviour and so on." Excellent point.
Intellectually credible think tank
The group should make its findings available to the political parties and create a dialogue with them. Jamaica desperately needs a non-partisan, intellectually credible think tank. As the first part of its project, the group has looked at the Jamaican economy since independence.
They have found that the Roaring Sixties were not as glorious for the people as the economic growth rates might suggest.
For those acquainted with political and development economics, it would come as no surprise that the '60s was a period of growth without development
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