Janiel McEwan is a Jamaican economist, researcher, writer, and commentator focused on economics, policy, and social development. Founder of The McEwan Index, he translates data into insight on Jamaica and the Caribbean region and beyond.
A record number of Jamaicans have passed through the country's flagship vocational training agency since 2020. The harder question is whether the economy around them has been built to use what they learned. By Janiel McEwan, Economist and Researcher Some numbers are large enough that they stop functioning
From a leaked diplomatic cable to a four-part investigation testing every official account against the documentary record, this week reminded us why independent, evidence-based journalism still matters in Jamaica. Here is what we covered, what it revealed, and what comes next. By Janiel McEwan, Economist and Researcher There
A diplomatic note, a formal human rights warning, and three different Cabinet explanations have now produced more documentation than public clarity. Here is the full record, reconstructed in order, with the questions it still leaves open. By Janiel McEwan, Economist and Researcher Part IV Three parts into this series, the
Has the Integrity Commission made Jamaica less corrupt, and what would the country look like without it? By Janiel McEwan, Economist and Researcher There is a particular kind of Jamaican silence that settles over a story once it touches the Integrity Commission. It is not indifference. It is the silence
Answered Minister Chang says this is about transit, not settlement. But the only fully operational version of this exact program anywhere in the world shows that transit is the part most likely to fail, and nobody in Kingston has said what happens when it does. By Janiel McEwan, Economist and
Kingston has signed a memorandum allowing the United States to route non-Jamaican deportees through Jamaican soil. The headline numbers are disputed. The deeper questions — about sovereignty, security, and a country that has spent three decades managing the stigma of deportation — are not. By Janiel McEwan, Economist and Researcher On
How Jamaica built one of the world's most expensive electricity systems: what it will take to escape it Published by The McEwan Index · June 2026 Seven decades after independence, Jamaica pays some of the highest electricity rates on earth, a structural constraint that suppresses investment, inflates the cost
The McEwan Index exists because the Caribbean deserves better than borrowed frameworks, shallow commentary, and analysis that was never built for us. There is a moment — and if you have ever sat with a serious question long enough, you know it — when the noise of the world becomes almost unbearable.
There is a moment — familiar to every emergency call handler, on every shift, in every country on earth — when the phone rings and the world holds its breath. The operator picks up. What comes through the line in the next three seconds will determine what happens next. A child not
Prime Minister Andrew Holness wants the world to choose Jamaica — not just visit it. But as the island benchmarks itself against two of the most remarkable economic transformations in modern history, the gap between aspiration and infrastructure has never been more visible. I. The Crossroads Fifty miles wide and a
When a 137-year presence decides to stop being a public company, the Caribbean should pay attention By Janiel McEwan, Economist and Author On June 12, 2026, Scotiabank announced it wants to buy out every remaining shareholder of Scotia Group Jamaica Limited and take the company private. The price tag: