The Haitian Economic/Humanitarian Crisis

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The Haitian Economic/Humanitarian Crisis

• Túlio Igor S. Pereira

ECON 465Current Issues in Latin American
Economies Professor Ramon Castillo-Ponce
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Key Investigative Questions

• What is the outlook of the Haitian economy
• today? Which economic/social indicators seems to
  be
• the most alarming?
• What causational factors can explain the
  situation of the
• Haitian economy today?
• What are the possible solutions to this difficult
• conundrum? Is International aid an efficient
• way to promote economic stabilization and
• development in the country?

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Key Facts About Haiti

• Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas.
  One of the poorest in the World.
• According to the World Bank
• GDP 11.18 billion (2010 est.)
• Two-thirds of all Haitians depend on the
  agricultural sector, mainly small-scale
  subsistence farming
• Unemployment Rate 50?? (Peaked at 70 in the
  mid 1990s according to US Agency for
  International Development-USAID)
• Around 54 of the population lives on less than
  US1 a day and 78 on less than US2 (2001 data).

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What does it mean to live in abject poverty in
Haiti? How does that reality translate into
statistics?
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Eating mud is the solution encountered by many
Haitians to fight severe hunger
Source Associated Press
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After mixing dirt with water creating a muddy
mixture, they add butter and salt and order them
up in rows and columns
Source Associated Press
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After a couple of hours, the mud cookies are put
to dry in the sun
Source Associated Press
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many women resort to mud cookies to nourish their
children
Source Associated Press
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Or sell them at the streets... For a price of 5
cents a piece
Source Associated Press
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Source Associated Press
In addition, a cholera epidemic is wide spreading
According to the Un, 250 have already been killed
and 3000 have been infected
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• Additional Information on Mud Cookies
• Video from the BBC (on Youtube)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vTIEt3vsUHgY
• Articles from the Sunday Times and The Guardian
• http//www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and
  _americas/article6281614.ece
• http//www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/29/food.i
  nternationalaidanddevelopment

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In this section I used interactive graphs
with the Gapminder software which you can obtain
for free at http//www.gapminder.org/downloads/ I
f you do not want to download the software, there
is also an option to use it directly on the
website (all you need in this case is a web
browser with flash). The software has more than
600 indicators spanning over 200 years of data,
so please feel free to play around with it! The
ones I used were the following (Child Mortality
vs. Income per Person and Life Expectancy vs.
Income per Person)
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What factors explain the critical situation of
Haiti's economy today?
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A Little Bit of History

• In 1697, Haiti became the French colony of
  Saint-Dominique.
• It was a successful colonial enterprise for
  France (especially in terms of the production of
  sugarcane),but it relied heavily on slave labor.
• In 1801, Pierre-Dominique Toussaint l'Ouverture
  declared Independence. Napoléon Bonaparte
  suppressed the independence movement, but it
  effectively triumphed in 1804 under Jean-Jacques
  Dessalines.

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• The Revolution brought more divides than unity,
  and as a consequent result, a weakening of the
  economy.
• Disputes between light-skinned mulattoes (who
  dominated the economy) and the black population
  erupted.

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A New Era of Dictatorships

• In 1949, after four years of democratic rule by
  President Dumarsais Estimé, dictatorship returned
  under Gen. Paul Magloire, who was succeeded by
  François Duvalier, nicknamed Papa Doc, in 1957.
• Upon Duvalier's death in 1971, his son,
  Jean-Claude, or Baby Doc, succeeded as ruler.
  He fled the country in 1986.
• On January 16, 2011, he made an unexpected return
  indicating that he wanted to help in the
  reconstruction of the country "I'm not here for
  politics. I'm here for the reconstruction of
  Haiti,"

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• Throughout the 1990s the international community
  tried to establish democracy in Haiti. The
  country's first elected chief executive was
  Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991. A UN peacekeeping
  operation started in 2000.

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The Worsening Effects of Natural Disasters
The Hurricanes

• The 2008 hurricane season was the most severe
  ever experienced in Haiti. Four storms--Fay,
  Gustav, Hanna, and Ike wiped out 70 of Haiti's
  crops for the year (according to the Food and
  Agriculture Organization FAO), leading food
  prices to increase even higher in the country.
• A massive magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti
  in January 2010.
• More than 230.000 people died (est.)
• More than 1.3 million had to be displaced
• Most of the already precarious infrastructure
  literally collapsed.

The earthquake
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What Solutions Can Be Undertaken?
Many fronts of action will be needed in the
following decades

• 1) In the short term humanitarian aid may be
  needed (especially to provide basic nutrition to
  those most in need)
• 2) Political stabilization must be achieved
  (democratically elected governments and reduction
  in corruption)
• 3) Reconstruction of basic infrastructure
• 4) Heavy investments in education
• 5) Specialization in the manufacturing industry
  (especially the garment industry)

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Concluding Thoughts

• The Haitian Economic Crisis is the most severe in
  the Western Hemisphere.
• Political instability is one of the main reasons
  for the economic situation.
• International Financial Aid may be a solution in
  the short run, but in the long run Haiti must
  strive for economic independence.