Remembering St. Lucia’s First Nobel Winner

Former vice president of the Caribbean Development Bank Marius St. Rose recalled meeting Sir William Arthur Lewis shortly after he received his Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1979. Ten years earlier, in 1969, Sir Arthur had helped establish the CDB and served as its first president. At the time of their meeting St. Rose was the assistant director. They remained friends until Sir Arthur’s death.  

“One just has to see his contributions to the world, his contribution to economics,” said St. Rose in an interview with the STAR. “He was a committed federalist and, of course, a very competent economist. He thought outside the box. Some people thought that he might’ve been a little austere and disciplinarian but, at the end of the day, it was all because he was interested in the people. You can’t develop if you don’t have discipline; you have to apply yourself.”

St. Rose says it is ironic that maybe the only part of the world which hasn’t adopted any of Lewis’ theories or models is the Caribbean—his home area. Nonetheless, St. Rose is confident that it is not too late to adopt them. Speaking on Singapore, a Southeast Asian country that did adopt Sir Arthur’s model, St. Rose pointed to the fact that they were able to do it mainly because of their authoritarian leader Lee Kuan Yew. Singapore’s first prime minister, he served from 1959-1990. Goh Chok Tong succeeded Yew, and led until he stepped down in 2004. Singapore’s third, and current prime minister is Lee Hsien Loong, who also happens to be Lee Kuan Yew’s son. All men are members of the People’s Action Party (PAP) which has been in power from 1959.

“Singapore was able to do it because you had an authoritarian leader who was almost like a benevolent dictator,” said St. Rose. “He controlled, he directed, he dictated, but it was always in the interest of the country. He put his country through a lot of sacrifice.” 

Is Saint Lucia doing enough to celebrate and recognize Sir Arthur’s achievements and contributions? St. Rose says he believes we are, but only to a certain extent, adding that we talk a lot but it’s totally different to walk the talk. He says everyone, including government, the civil service, and even churches, must come together to decide where we want to take the island.”It’s not only knowing his theories, celebrating them, and so on, but at the end of the day it’s implementing what he said are the models or the policies that we should follow. I don’t think many of us are prepared to make that sacrifice voluntarily.”

“Let us all participate and determine what direction the country should take,” he added. “Where do we want Saint Lucia to be in the next twenty years? But don’t let a politician do it for us, let us talk about it. In saying what we want, we also have to ask: What are we prepared to sacrifice to attain that goal.”