Prof. William Godfred Cantah, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Macroeconomic Policy and currently serves as Head of the Department of Data Science and Economic Policy, School of Economics, University of Cape Coast, for the 2026–2028 term. He holds a PhD, MPhil and BA in Economics from the University of Cape Coast. His academic and professional career sits at the intersection of macroeconomic policy, applied macro-econometrics, data science, economic modelling, financial sector development and evidence-based public policy.
His research focuses particularly on monetary economics and macroeconomic policy, applied macro-econometrics and policy modelling, and financial sector development. His broader scholarly interests include machine learning for macroeconomic analysis and forecasting, computational economics, data-driven policy analysis and the application of advanced quantitative methods to contemporary economic and development challenges.
Prof. Cantah has published extensively on inflation, monetary policy, fiscal policy, financial development, financial stability, foreign direct investment, commodity markets, natural resources and macroeconomic performance. His research has appeared in internationally recognised journals including Eastern Economic Journal, International Economics and Economic Policy, Resources Policy, Heliyon, African Development Review, Research in Globalization, Global Business Review, and Social Sciences & Humanities Open. He has also contributed chapters to scholarly volumes published by Oxford University Press and Springer Nature.
Beyond academia, Prof. Cantah is actively engaged in national economic policy formulation and development planning. He serves as a Commissioner of Ghana's National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and Convenor of its Economic Policy Committee. He has also served on Ghana's National Macroeconomic Modelling Team since 2015 and has contributed to major national statistical exercises, including Ghana's Consumer Price Index rebasing and the Integrated Business Establishment Survey.
His international professional engagements include training economists, central bankers and policy professionals in macroeconomic modelling, econometric methods, machine learning and forecasting. He has facilitated capacity-building programmes involving institutions such as the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
At the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Cantah has played a leading role in developing academic programmes that integrate economics, data science and public policy, including the BSc Data Science and Economics and postgraduate programmes in Data Science & Economic Policy with. Prior to becoming Head of Department, he served as the coordinator and subsequently Coordinator of the Centre for Data Archiving, Management, Analysis and Advocacy (C-DAMAA). He has since handed over the coordination of the Centre following his assumption of office as Head of Department.
His work is driven by a commitment to strengthening the application of data science, artificial intelligence, econometrics and computational methods to economic policy, while building stronger linkages among academia, government, industry and development institutions. His leadership vision is to position the Department of Data Science and Economic Policy as a leading African hub for data-intensive economics, innovative teaching, policy-relevant research, professional training and evidence-based solutions to complex economic and development challenges.
