Poorest in the Caribbean: Haiti in the twentiest century

Il s'agit d'une conférence prononcée par l'économiste Mats Lundahl en 2001.

Vous pourrez télécharger le document pdf en cliquant ici.

Voici le résumé du travail par l'auteur lui-même:

« Haiti is the poorest nation in the Caribbean, scoring low on all three components of the UN Human Development Index. During the nineteenth century, large-scale plantations were replaced by peasant farms in a chaotic rush for property, influencing decades of Haitian politics and leading to an agriculture that spelled its own demise, as land-intensive crops gave way to labor intensive ones that simultaneously caused ever increasing erosion. Together these events set the stage for the income-depressing mechanisms of the twentieth century. The interplay of population growth and soil erosion led to falling per capita income, as food crops were substituted for coffee, the main peasant export crop. Attemps to develop alternative exports met with limited success, including the introduction in the 1990s of light industry, soon complicated by political upheaval. Indeed, the predatory Haitian state has frequently frustrated the country's economic development during the twentieth century, and the three attemps that were made to reform economic policies since the fall of the Duvalier regime in 1986 have all failed as a result. Deficiencies in social capital and the educational system have also contributed to the dismal forecast for Haiti's economic and political future. »

Voici le début du premier et la fin du deuxième paragraphes de la première section du travail intitulée «Some Statistical Facts »:

« Let it be said at once: Haitian statistics have never been good. » «...there are good economic reasons for this to be true. »

Et la dernière phrase de la dernière section intitulée «Conclusions» est:

« It was never easy to be Haitian. »

Voici la table des matière du document de 24 pages:

I. Some Statistical Facts

II. Cerating The Setting: The Nineteenth Century

III. Man vesus Nature: The Process of Soil Destruction

IV. Food versus Export Crops: The Failure to Develop Exports

V. Politics versus Economics: Economic Policy Problems

VI. Government versus Citizens: The Continued Degeneration of Politics

VII. Man vesus Man: The Lack of Social Capital

VIII. Rulers versus Ruled: Education in Haiti

IX. Conclusions

Notes

Bibliography

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Remarque: Ce travail est à rapprocher de celui du Professeur Jared Diamond intitulé «Collapse», traitant d'environnement et contenant le cas d'Haïti parmi les exemples illustrant sa thèse.