Haiti and Development: Learning from Successes

[@Friedfish-zm7fx]

Why Haiti began and remains poor (pt 1 of 7). During its colonial days, Haiti’s slave plantations supplied over half of the world’s sugar. But after the slaves gained their freedom from the brutal regime and the country declared independence in 1804, sugar disappeared from the economy as small farms produced coffee, subsistence agriculture, and food for local markets. In 1950, when Haiti was at least producing some sugar, its exports were far behind comparable countries: sugar exports in Puerto Rico were 35 times higher, and in the Dominican Republic exports were 14 times higher. A common explanation for Haiti’s resistance to producing sugar is that Haitian culture rejected the industry because of the associated historical traumas. However Haitians went to the DR, Cuba, even Puerto Rico to harvest sugar cane so there was not much of a cultural stigma towards the sugar industry. A major contributor to Haiti’s failure to restore its sugar economy was historical property rights institutions that created significant transaction costs to starting large-scale farms. 3 post-Independence property rights institutions: (1) a large redistribution of the former French plantations; (2) inheritance patterns on peasant land that gave every family member a veto right to selling it; and (3) a constitutional ban on foreigners owning land in Haiti. But the property rights institutions in Haiti are important because they were not established by colonists; instead, they were created by a newly independent nation in reaction to colonists. These are post-colonial institutions. From 1900 to 1960, sugar accounted for 76 percent of Cuba’s export value, 51 percent of the Dominican Republic’s, 46 percent of Puerto Rico’s, and 26 percent of Jamaica’s. Sugar contributed only 5 percent to Haiti’s exports. Less than 10% of Haiti's sugar production was exported whereas for the other Caribbean countries about 90% was exported. Since 1987 (demise of HASCO) sugar in Haiti has been a cash crop raised by peasants rather than by large-scale plantations. Sugar Exported (Million lbs) ...............Haiti.......Dom.Rep.......P.Rico.......Jamaica.......Cuba 1900______1_______150________200_________2_______1,000 1910______1_______250________500_________3_______2,000 1920______2_______300________700________10_______5,000 1930______3_______550______1,000________50_______2,000 1940______4_______700______1,500_______200_______4,500 1950______5_______900______1,600_______400_______7,000 In 2014, on coffee: Country__________________Haiti______Dom.Rep.____Cuba______Jamaica Production (tonnes)______19,500_____13,500______9,000_____1,620 Export (tonnes)___________120______1,020________660_____1,320 Export/Production (%)_______0.6________7.6_________7.3_______81.5 Population (M)_____________10.4_______10.3_______11.3_______2.8 Area (1000 km^2)___________27.8_______48.7______110.9______11.0

[@Friedfish-zm7fx]

Why Haiti began and remains poor (pt 6 of 7). Haiti and rice. >>>>> The Clintons destroyed the Haitian rice farmers!!!

[@Friedfish-zm7fx]

Why Haiti began and remains poor (pt 3 of 7). (E) Subsistence Economy. The old and recent historical data show that exports are a small part of Haiti's economy. Settling for a Subsistence Economy, a Survival Economy is OK. There are tribes living the Stone Age style deep in the Amazon forest and in the jungles of the Congo and Papua New Guinea for thousands of years. Subsistence Economy can be done. However the Planet is populated with Predatory Nations. Fortunately for the Stone Age inhabitants of the Amazon, Central Africa and Papua New Guinea, they have the military protection of the sovereign countries in which they live. The Amish lives in a somewhat Subsistence Economy and there is no Amish Nation: the Amish community is part of the USA and is thus protected by the USA. Trying to maintain proper military power with a Subsistence Economy cannot be sustained for long. (F) The low trust character of Haitian society. The Haitian and French revolutions have a few things in common: they are both based on J.E.A.R. = Jealousy, Envy, Anger, Resentment. JEAR is the blood of Socialism and Communism. The concern for "equality" is the launchpad for JEAR. Words "equal(ity)", "democracy" appears _________________________________Equal(ity)____Democracy US Declaration of Independence_____1_____________0 US Constitution____________________0_____________0 French Constitution 1793___________3_____________1 French Constitution 1958__________10_____________4 Haiti Constitution 1805___________3_____________0 Haiti Constitution 1987___________7_____________4 All the freed slaves in Haiti were given a plot of land and then the fun began. The Ancients had it correct: give 3 people equal amount of money at sunrise and they will become unequal before sunset. Dessalines was on his way to deal with some land speculators when he was assassinated. The point is: large-scale farms are much more efficient than small-scale farms and cooperative farms in Haiti were difficult to establish and these rare cooperatives did not last long. Thus time after time, Haiti falls back to a Subsistence Economy. Are there today (2024 AD) large landowners (you know, them evil, nasty, greedy oligarchs!)? Yes. However, in 1950, 80% of the Artibonite Valley (where rice is grown) was still in the hands of the small farmers. The national economic dynamics is still dominated by small-land farmers. The Amish, again. Amish companies are usually no more than 5 employees. Yet said small companies frequently combine together for large tasks. The trust aspect of Amish culture is rare in Haitian society. Mind you, Amish runs a mainly Subsistence Economy, not an Industrial Economy. If Haiti were Amish country, Haiti would be in much better shape. Mind you, the Amish are not warmongers and they would not invade the Dominican Republic. Summary. Saint Domingue was a super producer of sugar in the late 1700's because of large-scale farming. Then came Independence of 1804. Land Reform: everyone gets equal share of the Land. Consequence of Land Reform: small-scale farming which brings about at best a Subsistence Economy, a Survival Economy. Haiti thus lost the status of Sugar Super-Producer and started on the Road to Poverty. Constant political turmoil is characteristic of a low-trust society. The low trust nature of Haitian culture makes difficult the establishment of cooperative farming needed for economic growth.