The economic history of the Republic of Haiti

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Haiti: Labor
Library of Congress Country Studies, December 1989. The size, composition and distribution of Haiti's labor force. The distribution of the labor force shifted from agriculture to services, with some growth in industry. Despite these changes, agriculture continued to dominate economic activity in the 1980s, employing 66 percent of the labor force.
Current economic policies in Haiti
From Haiti-L, 1995. Bob Corbett redistributes to his list information sent to him on how to find out about Haitian economic policies.
Bibliography on the economy of Haiti
Compiled by Bob Corbett, 19 November 1996. For the most part, recent books in English.
Haiti's Wage Floor
Part of a dialog on Bob Corbett's Haiti list, 6 February 1999. Are wages best understood in terms of neoliberal economics or in terms of politics? Do wage levels (i.a.) discourage investment in Haiti and thus the economic development needed to boost wages, or is it the long-term political interest of the U.S. to depress Haitian wages?
Haiti's economy gets worse; Nation plagued by spending, inflation
By Don Dohning, The Miami Herald, 20 April 2000. A government spending binge, the lack of a parliament, higher petroleum prices and political turmoil have plunged the Haitian economy to depths not seen since an international embargo against a de facto military regime that ruled from 1991 to 1994 [a perspective in support of the IFI position].
Cooperative crisis continues to escalate in Haiti
This Week in Haiti,Haiti Progres, 24–30 July 2002. The cooperatives movement encouraged by President Aristide was supposed to democratize the economy by offering an alternative to bourgeois domination of key economic sectors. Most cooperatives were unregulated banks and credit unions offering such high interest-rates that inflation-whipped Haitians were enticed to deposit their meager life savings. But most cooperatives were concocted by pyramid schemers and are now falling like dominos, throwing thousands into even deeper poverty and despair.
Important declaration from the President of the Republic concerning bank accounts in American currency
By President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, 28 October 2002. President Aristide reassured depositors that their cash holdings in foreign currency in commercial banks will not be converted into gourdes. The Government never had any intention of substituting itself for the market. The panic current panic should subside.
As 200th anniversary nears: Haiti needs reparations, not sanctions
By Pat Chin, Workers World, 17 July 2003. The Washington-backed Democratic Convergence is made up of 15 tiny bourgeois opposition parties with no real support in the popular masses. In response to this maneuver to force a regime change by tightening the economic squeeze, Haitian President Aristide has called on France—the original colonial power—to make restitution for an indemnity Haiti was forced to pay after militarily defeating the French, forcing slavery's end and declaring independence.
Empowerment: Haitian town sees light after many years in the darkness
Associated Press, 11 August 2003. Electrification in Petit-Goave. Light is bringing social stability. Two diesel generators provid the town of 15,000 and neighboring areas with their first constant flow of power in a decade. Private companies sell electricity to the state utility, Haiti Electricity, which resells it at subsidized prices.