In recent times, the University of the West Indies (UWI) has been harshly criticised in the press for not conducting pertinent research and therefore failing to provide practical policy solutions to the critically important current economic problems of the Caribbean.

No less a person than Mr Freundel Stuart, the prime minister of Barbados, in his speech at UWI’s 50th anniversary closing ceremony said: “It is the university which should be helping the population to perceive some kind of structure behind the complexity and seeming confusion of life today; some kind of ordered drama behind the daily whirl of events.

“If the supposedly leading thinkers in our society are not doing this, I ask, who should? If Barbados and the Caribbean ever needed clarifying voices it is now. My sense is that these voices are either in too short supply at the university or are certainly too muted.”

In our editorials, we have wondered why we have not heard more from the economics department of the UWI, especially the department at Mona, which has a long tradition of offering policy advice. The Mona Campus and, in particular, the economics department, at one time or another was home to the leading Caribbean economists — vice chancellors Sir Arthur Lewis and Sir Alister McIntyre and Don Harris at the Consortium Graduate School.

Luminaries of the economics department at Mona include Messrs Clive Thomas, Norman Girvan and George Beckford. The department and the social science faculty have supplied many former lecturers to governments in the region, eg Dr Omar Davies, Dr Peter Phillips, Dr Paul Robertson, Professor Gordon Shirley, Dr Richard Bernal, Mr Colin Bullock, Dr Christopher Tufton, and Dr Owen Jefferson.

In addition, regional organisations have benefited from the involvement of Sir Dwight Venner and Mr Dillon Alleyne, while academics like Dr Marshall Hall have made significant contribution to the private sector.

The economics department at Mona has answered the critics by continuing the tradition of research of current economic problems and offering policy recommendations.

Dr Damien King and Dr David Tennant of the economics department have just published a valuable and timely contribution to the public policy debate on the debt crisis of small island developing states (SIDS) including those in the Caribbean that are the most indebted. The book, entitled Debt and Development in Small Island Developing States (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) is a collection of 11 essays written by a mix of academics and experienced policymakers.

The essays discuss all aspects of the debt problem based on the experience of SIDS. The book analyses the extent of the debt, the causes of the debt accumulation, the implications, and suggests policies to improve the management of the debt.

The publication of this book suggests, at least in regard to the issue of debt, that the criticisms of the economics department and the wider UWI are not justified.

We congratulate Dr King and Dr Tennant for enabling UWI to answer the call, once more.