Tarron Khemraj

Education

PhD Economics (The New School)
MA Development Economics (University of Manchester)
B.Soc.Sc. Economics (University of Guyana)

Dr. Khemraj specializes in two primary research areas: the political economy of development with special emphasis on the English-speaking Caribbean and the Guianas (Guyana and Suriname); and monetary macroeconomics with focus on the United States and other developing economies. His recent monetary macroeconomic research examines exchange rate management and systems, as well as unconventional monetary policies ranging from quantitative easing in the United States to unorthodox central bank instruments for macroeconomic stabilization in small open developing economies. His book – Money, Banking and the Foreign Exchange Market in Emerging Economies – worked out the analytics of a system of one-sided sterilization in which the central bank sells an official security to target the bid-ask spread in the foreign exchange market for the purpose of maintaining economic stability. The book also demonstrates empirically the existence of a non-zero lower bound interest rate in several developing and emerging economies. The latter has implication for independent monetary policy and exchange rate adjustments. In his political economy research, he has published papers showing that in a bi-communal society people may vote to reinforce an underdevelopment trap; and structural production transformation requires elite agreement over the contestation for economic privileges.

Recent Courses

Development Economics
Political Economy
Econometrics
Intermediate Microeconomics
Money, Banking and Financial Markets

Research in Progress

“Inflation dynamics and quantitative easing” (co-author: Sherry Yu).

“Dominant currency shocks and foreign exchange pressure in the periphery,” Working Paper, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, The New School, NY, USA (co-author: Aleksandr Gevorkyan).

“Structural change and sectoral spillovers in the natural resource abundant Guyana-Suriname basin” (co-author: Sukrishnalall Pasha).

“Central bank overdraft and debt sustainability: a study using Neo-Chartalist themes”

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications

“Central bank securities and foreign exchange market intervention in a developing economy.” Review of Development Economics, Vol. 26, No. 1, 2022 (co-author Eli Direye).

“Geography, economic structures and institutions: a synthesis,” Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Vol. 51 (December), 2019 (co-author: Collin Constantine).

“Exchange rate targeting and gold demand by central banks: modeling international reserves composition.” Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Vol. 55 (Issue 1), 2019 (co-author: Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan).

“Politics and underdevelopment: the case of Guyana,” in Unmasking the State: Politics, Society and Economy in Guyana, 1992 – 2015, (editors: Arif Bulkan and Alissa Trotz), Ian Randle Publishers: Kingston, Jamaica, 2019.

“Monetary policy and excess liquid assets in small open developing economies,” in Handbook of Small States: Economic, Social and Environmental Issues (editor: Lino Briguglio), London and New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis, 2018.

“The political economy of Guyana’s underdevelopment.” Review of Black Political Economy, Vol. 43, Issue 3, 2016.

“The effectiveness of Quantitative Easing: new evidence on private investment.” Applied Economics, Vol. 48, Issue 28, 2016 (co-author Sherry X. Yu).

“The colonial origins of Guyana’s underdevelopment.” Social and Economic Studies, Vol. 64, No. 2&3, 2015.

Money, Banking and the Foreign Exchange Market in Emerging Economies, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar, 2014.

“Dual nominal anchors in the Caribbean.” Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. 39, Issue 4, 2012 (with Sukrishnalall Pasha).

“Analysis of an unannounced foreign exchange regime change.” Economic Systems, Vol. 36, Issue 1, 2012 (co-author: Sukrishnalall Pasha).

“What does excess bank liquidity say about the loan market in Less Developed Countries?” Oxford Economic Papers, Vol. 62, No. 1, 2010.

“The missing link: the finance growth nexus and the Guyanese growth stagnation.” Social and Economic Studies, Vol. 57, Nos. 3&4, 2008.