Jan 24 2010
Day Zero in Haiti
Published by Andrew McCarthy at 7:20 pm under Development,Economic Growth,Education,Health,Human Development Index,International trade
A week after the earthquake, the Haitian people now speak of day zero plus seven. Day zero was the day when an earthquake rumbled and shook the shallow bay near Port-au-Prince and crumpled the many fragile houses, hospitals, churches and hotels. The quake did not discriminate against the rich and the poor, but in the months and years to come the world needs to ensure that the country gets a fair chance to rebuild.
Some consider the day of the quake, as the day a new nation began. As Economists we can offer insights about the path to improved living standards, through our understanding of what has worked, and not worked, in other countries.
Haiti has a history which is more turbulent than most. In 1697 when Spain ceded control of Haiti to the French, much of the land was deforested and the ecology wrecked as sugar fields were planted. In 1804 the republic was founded, and later the dominant political figure was Dr. François Duvalier, and his son who reined as Presidents of the country from 1957 – 1972 (François) and his son till 1987. In 1990 the ruling military junta gave up power and President Clinton sent in 20,000 troops to a country ravaged by HIV and entrenched poverty. Hurricanes in 2004 and 2008 displace hundreds of thousands of Haitian’s and ruined existing infrastructure. But the recent earthquake might be the biggest challenge yet for most fragile and poorest nation in the Caribbean. On the Human Development Index, Haiti is classified as one of the least developed nations in the world at 149th of 182 countries (HDI Report, UN 2009).
After the mourning and eventual stabilisation, the government will need explain what the future holds for Haiti. This is a window of unfortunate opportunity that the government will never see again and mustn’t squander. The developed world has made promises of aid to support the reconstruction, but health care and education, skills and employment must be offered to the people to help the nation grow from the depths of this disaster in a sustainable way. From our learning about Development Economics we can explain strategies appropriate to Haiti.
Former President Bill Clinton who is the UN’s Special Envoy to Haiti, offered a good insight on the nations challenge in his excellent essay in last weeks Time Magazine.
Time Magazine – Jan 14 2010 – Bill Clinton: The Haiti Earthquake
We’ve got to all work together toward a common goal (for Haiti). We have to relentlessly focus on trying to build a model that will be sustainable, so we don’t plant a bunch of trees and then revert to deforestation, or adopt a program to bring power to the country that can’t be sustained, or adopt an economic strategy that is going to wither away in two years.
What the economic strategy will be for Haiti will likely be influenced by the trade agreement with USA called the Caribbean Initiative. This has recently provided an impetus for the clothing industry in Haiti. Hanes, which sells T-shirts throughout North America, produces part of their stock in Haiti in the factories, which are now being protected from looting. These labour intensive industries are important in a nation with approximately two-thirds of labour force unable to find work. The quake and eventual rebuild also offer opportunities to build on existing plans as Clinton explains,
Haiti isn’t doomed. Let’s not forget, the damage from the earthquake is largely concentrated in the Port-au-Prince area. That has meant a tragic loss of life, but it also means there are opportunities to rebuild in other parts of the island. So all the development projects, the agriculture, the reforestation, the tourism, the airport that needs to be built in the northern part of Haiti — everything else should stay on schedule. Then we should simply redouble our efforts once the emergency passes to do the right sort of construction in Port-au-Prince and use it to continue to build back better.
It is evident that Haiti can use this opportunity to develop the country as Clinton explains. In addition, there are many other ways that the country could improve the living standards of the Haitian people. These development and growth strategies could include;
- The development of Fair Trade schemes to improve Haiti producer’s access to world markets.
- Facilitating the provision of small loans through Micro Finance schemes
- Developing the export sector by investing in the transportation infrastructure to transport products.
- Exploring new trade agreements with nations.
- Promoting foreign direct investment in Haiti by multinational companies.
Nevertheless the task is daunting for Haiti. As a UN staff member recently explained to a New York Times reporter, the immediate recovery is complex. The future reconstruction and redevelopment will be difficult, and the road long.
“You’re talking about a country that pre-earthquake had limited resources and capability, and what resources it did have were concentrated in the capital,” said Kim Bolduc, who is coordinating the relief effort for the United Nations. “This context helps explain why this emergency is probably the most complex in history, more than the tsunami, more than the Pakistan earthquake” of 2005. Link
Here are some interesting facts about Haiti
- 40% of the population is under 14 years of age.
- The nations main exports are coffee, mango and other agricultural products.
- 66% of all Haitian’s work in the agricultural sector on small subsistence farms.
- Before the quake foreign aid made up a large proportion of national income. In 2004 over $1 billion was pledged by USA, World Bank and Canada and France. Partly in loans but also in direct assistance.
- In 2006 Haiti was ranked as the most corrupt nation in the world by Transparency International, followed by Burma and Iraq.
Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3522155.stm – Haiti: An economic basket-case.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6120522.stm – Transparency International
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ha.html – Haiti – CIA World Factbook
http://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/ – UN Photo stream, Creative Commons
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/haiti/index.html – New York Times, Haiti News.
Discussion Questions:
- In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
- Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
- Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
- How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
- What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
About the author: Andrew is an International School educator based in Singapore, who specialises in teaching Economics and leading change in a 1:1 Apple laptop environment. He enjoys teaching the International Baccalaureate curriculum and has taught the Diploma Economics course to both Higher and Standard Level students. Previously Andrew taught in New Zealand as a Geography and Economics teacher and eLearning coach. He is an adventurous New Zealander, who enjoys running, travelling and spending time with friends and family.
Andrew is currently the head of Educational Technology at the United World College of Southeast Asia. Read more posts by this authorNo related posts.
I am thinking of using this to begin my regular economic section next week. We always start economics looking at the fundamental economics problem – scarcity – and the idea that economics is the study of how people organize to allocate land,labor,capital and entrepreneurship. And we must begin also with an understanding of the type of system we will use. Haiti is in a position to basically begin again. Their greatest resource is labor, although what I see in the photos seem to be very young people and children, many who will be maimed. They will need health care, education, infratstructure. Where should a society start? Thanks for posting this – I believe a good discussion can be had by students as they consider what a country like Haiti is up against, and how lucky we are in countries that have developed infratstruce, sound government, and capital.
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Patti,
I agree that this post has some great potential for use in class. My IB year 2 students are in the middle of their development Economics unit right now. We'll be reading this post in class today and reflecting on the growth and development strategies Andrew suggests above. Thanks Andrew! Great contribution to our students' learning!
Jason
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1 I think haiti's most valuable resource is Hanes clothing industy. it is importent because with a big buisenes providing new jobs it will help to stabilize the country economicaly and provide it with a means to rebuild itself with less help from the outside world, wich i think would be more benificial in the long run.
2 the needs of the people of haiti are to rebuild there homes and in the aftermath set up a very stable and uncorupt government. there wants are probably to become an stabalized country with uncorrupt leaders who will help the average person.
3 a good example of scarcity for haiti is the lack of jobs. i think that they really need to put more people to work because if they stop taking hand outs from the other countries they will need to create the supplies themselves wich will improve unemployment as well as get a good buiseness infastructure for future years. this will also help provide for the scarcity of food water and shelter for many people.
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1. Haiti's most valuable resource endowment to me would have to be the impetus of the clothing industry in Haiti (Hanes). Because its their main industry that sell mostly throughout U.S.
2. Haiti's needs would have to be a safe home, and food which they lost a lot of. Haiti's want are better industry that offer more jobs and also a stable and good gov't.
3. Some examples of scarcity in Haiti are lack of job opportunities, and shelter, water, and food to please all the population of Haiti.
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1. In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
As the industry has always been very backward there has been a lot of capital flight. A lot of the GDP is therefore from financial support from emmigrants. Also their textile industry was very big.
2. Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
-Micro Finance:
Low income people gain access to money with low interest rates, can build up their own businesses and therefore improve economy.
-Import Substitution:
Haiti should produce goods domestically rather than import them. This should lead to the growth of domestic industries and therefore the growth of the whole economy to compete on the world market.
3. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
The weaknesses of Micro Finance is that a great trust is put onto someone. As one has to pay it back improvement in poverty level has to occur.
The Strengths in Micro Finanance are that people gain access to loans with low interest rates and therefore get a chance to escape the poverty trap. People can start to build wealth and children can start going to school. This rases the economic status of a country.
The Strength of Import Substitution is that jobs in Haiti are gained and most importantly Haiti is protected from the power and influence of multinational corporations.
4. How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
5. What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
-As it is in a great poverty cycle it might the situation might have not improved very much in 20 years. But as there is a lot concentration from foreigners on Haiti currently foreign help and donation might lead to significant improvements.
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1. As the others said before I think Haiti's most valuable resource endowment is also the Henes clothing factories, because so many people cannot find a job, so it's important that such a company gives employment.
2. Export-led growth
- economic growth could be achieved if Haiti could export more goods and services
Foreign direct investment
- to achieve economic growth
3. For export-led growth to occur there needs to be of course something that the country can export. So companies and corporations like Hanes need to settle in the country and build factories there. But in Haiti's current situation this will be very hard to achieve.
For this, foreign direct investment is important so that multinational corporations expand into the country. But as said before this will be hard to achieve in Haiti's current situation and also because the country is very corrupt.
4. Because there is a lot of corruption in Haiti it will be hard for the country to achieve economic growth and development. If the government is corrupt than the people do not trust it, and also foreigners will not invest into a country that is so corrupt and it is likely that corporations will not build up new branches of their business there.
5. I think that Haiti's situation will improve and that it will have achieved at least some growth and development. Haiti gets a lot of foreign aid at this point and if they use it wisely, the country could be in a much better situation in 20 years than they are today.
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1. Haiti’s current biggest resource is the land that it is sitting on. Considering that due to the quake dealing its biggest blow to the Port-au-Prince region it gives greater incentive for exploration further around the island. Whereas before the quake the Haitian’s were hearted around city centres, and now that the quake has struck it will not be a safe place to stay for the coming years, after clearing all the debris the vast number of bodies that are not yet found will continue to entice animals, bugs etc that can easily spread disease. At the moment Port-au-prince is the worst place to begin economic growth; for the coming years this area will be solely an emergency zone, needing cleaning and so forth. When the cleaning is complete the region could become an entirely new source of revenue and work for the Haitian’s as the city is rebuilt and firms move back into the area construction workers are needed to build the buildings.
2.
a. New trade agreements will certainly, especially listening to economists such as Paul Collier, benefit the region. A trade agreement with its nations will create incentives, especially with developments into the more rural areas of Haiti (assume infrastructure is built) that will benefit Haiti with wages for its population, tax revenues for its government and may increase interest from other parties.
b. Fair Trade programs are an excellent source for economic developed in LED’s. Knowing the owner of a plantation in Tanzania I’ve been told that these firms who wish to trade under ‘fair trade’ must give fair pay, health cover, accommodation and so forth to its employers. This may be seen as a disincentive for firms; however the ‘fair trade’ stamp costs will be put onto the consumer who will feel more justified in spending extra money knowing that their money will actually benefit people directly.
3. A major problem with trade agreements for Haiti at the current time is that its government has been ranked the most corrupt in the world. A corrupt government may not necessarily be looking for the best deal for their nation moreover just looking to get the most that they can get out of a situation. If trade agreements are to exist, first a non-corrupt government must be in power to stop the normal population of Haiti being ripped off.
With the Fair Trade logo many could see the problem of getting the initial investors into Haiti with the such high barriers they would face that will include their initial building costs for factories, and building costs for their employers etc. Then on top of that the sheer costs that mount up to the employer in terms of providing health care for their workers – initially this may not seem to make economic sense for a private firm – and without a non-corrupt government willing to make tax breaks or equivalents to create incentives then firms would not move to Haiti.
4. As touched upon in the above question a corrupt government may not be so inclined to look after the people of their nation before they look after number one. This kind of mentality can cause all sorts of internal (and external) problems for a nation. A corrupt government can lead to invasion from other nations wishing to secure their own assets, it can lead to a complete breakdown in economic trade between nations, and aid etc may even be halted due to a corrupt government.
5. In 20 years I still see Haiti being one of the lowest ranked nations on HDI; however I see some economic progression being made. GDP will most likely have increased at least tenfold, with per capita following suit (at a less rate no doubt). I think with such a corrupt government, and gangs taking control in the streets that tourism will be a no go for a minimum of ten years, harming the Haitian economy for at least double. Exports may increase but if gangs take control then barely any money will trickle down into the massive percentage living under the poverty line. Haiti will definitely still be ranked as an LED on the HDI rankings, and its economic performance will, I believe, again be one of the poorest in the world – even with its resources. The corrupt government will do barely anything to help the people of their country – especially with education as an educated population would no doubt revolt against them, and if too much aid is given over the coming years – Haitian’s will have no incentive to get out of their poverty cycle and this situation could continue for many, many years to come.
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1. Haiti's most valuable resource endowment is the Hanes clothing industry. This helps Haiti stay some what stable because it offers jobs to the population. Some of Hane's stock is produced in Haiti and because the factories are being protected from looting they are making a profit and helping the economy grow.
2. One growth strategy would be is to rebuild homes and buildings and to clean the city up from a disaster. This would help in Haiti because the people's homes were destroyed and their jobs were lost. The rebuilding would be able to provide jobs and that would be able to get them back on their feet and the economy would grow. Another strategy would be is to form a non-corupt government so people would be given their rights and protected by the legal system. Haiti would really benefit from this because with the disaster everyone is stealing and taking advantage of everything around them because of the countries shortages and scarcity.
3. The strenghts of rebuilding homes and building would be that there are available places for jobs and space to make products. Families would be able to earn money to provide for each other and to live. The weaknesses of that would be is that it would take time to rebuild and a lot of money from the economy. Not everyone would have a job just because of scarcity and the entire country would not be able to survive. The strenghts of creating a non-corupt government would be that there would be less crime in the streets and people would be able to live with rights they deserve and to make money. The weaknesses of this strategy would be is that creating this government would take a lot of time and effort and it could get out of hand where a group of people or person could gain too much power.
4. Corruption could be a barrier to the future of Haiti because it is preventing people from owning businesses and making money. There is no one stopping people from breaking the law if it even exists. Haiti will not be able to grow or be able to be stable without making money to produce goods and services and the nation will fall apart.
5. I think that Haiti will be a developing nation in the next 20 years because everyone around the world is trying to help them in some way. Even if it is a little bit it still makes a difference. I think Haiti can learn from this and the world as well as to think of the impossible to keep their economy stable and to invest for the best of the future. Haiti can get back on its feet we all just need to help and think of ways to better their economy.
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1. to me haits most valuable resourse endowment is the impetus clothing industry this could help them to get back on their feet and it could help them with there money problems. A clothing industry could bring about alot of money to a country if they sell to the right people which haiti is doing by selling to the u.s.
2. Haitis needs are still the same as before; they still need food,water,shelter,etc., but now they just have a greater demand for all of that stuff. there wants are things like money, more clothing, etc. these are things that haiti wants but dont really need as much as the vital things to survive.
3. scarcity in haiti is now bigger than ever. haiti wants more food than they can get, haiti wants more water than they can get, haiti wants the shelter that it desprately wants and needs but due to scarcity they cant get most of the wants and needs that they desire so much. also they have a want for the things that they really cant have right now, that is another example of scarcity as well. haiti is a perfect example of what scarcity is really about
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1. I believe that the Hanes clothing industry is one of the most valuable resources in that area. The people need to have a use for this physically demanding labor force. Not only will this provide the area with much needed income, but it will also keep the people of the area from being disillusioned and prevent them turning to more corrupt forms of gaining income.
4.Corruption can only worsen the problem. not only will the aid already provided by foreign powers not reach those who need it but the very same foreign powers may grow tired of the government misusing the funds and could very easily pull out their support entirely.
5.Sadly the situation in Haiti will probably not improve that much. it has always been a very impoverished nation and while they have a chance to make a fresh start im not sure if the people will be able to act on this chance. in 20 years i see Haiti in the exact same position it was before the disaster and that is truly disheartening.
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some nice responses everyone! It is good to see people thinking beyond the problems of corruption to possible solutions such as micro-lending and fair trade.
This weekend Paul Collier wrote a great article in the NY Times which further develops many of the ideas you have mentioned above. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/opinion/29colli…
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1. In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
Right now Haiti has a large amount of labour available but much of the land is not agriculturally productive as implied by the fact that a large number of farms simply provide what the owners need to live and not excess. As most of what little industry was centred around the capital, most of which was destroyed. If a company chose to set up a factory in Haiti now they would have virtually unlimited, cheap labour as there are so many homeless and impoverished people.
2. Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
As labour is so cheap, and I assume land would be fairly cheap as it is not agriculturally productive, removing tarifs on Haitian goods in the developed world would encourage factories to set up and increase employment.
Another method for development would be to use aid to give farmers courses on how ot be more productive. This would enamble them to produce more food and then sell the excess enabling more people to move into industry or tertiary sectors.
3. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
The first strategy would be hard ot impliment as governments would have to agree to reduce tarifs. THis could have international political backlashes and would only work as long as tarifs stay low. This does have an advantage as Haiti is much closer to the US and would have an advantage over east asia due to shipping costs.
THe second option would be dependant on each farm being able to produce more.food then they do currently.
4. How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
Corruption leads to higher start up and running costs for firms along with reducing aggregate demand as people will have less money to spend.
5. What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
I do not think Haiti will be much more developed. Although the developed countries are working ot help the people they will not make lasting changes, but restore the country to what it used to be.
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I think that the main target of the development project should target education as well as the general governance of the country. According to the data, 40% of Haiti's population is under 14 years of age. Since such a large portion of the population is so young, I think that should the future Haitians be more educated, then the country would have much more competent and valuable human capital. In other words, this would increase the productivity of the country itself (workforce is one of the three factors of production). So, schools should be built as well as a university to provide further education (if possible).
Furthermore, the other development projects should target the few exploitable resources the country does have, which seem to especially lie in the primary sector (66% of all Haitians work in the agricultural sector). More specifically, the few products that they do produce (in this case mango and coffee etc), should be perfected and replanted (specialization). This would require reforestation and the fertilization of any usable land. However, Haitian development projects do not necessarily have to be situated in Haiti itself. That is to say, investments could be made to further advertise Haiti and reduce the fear foreigners currently have to venture into Haiti. Rebuilding consumer confidence would revive the tourism, and hence foreign investment.
On the other hand, there is a more "social" aspect if you will, that direly requires attention. That is politics. Haiti has had a very turbulent history with a record of corruption. Its politicians use their position of power to further their own needs, creating a handicap to Haiti's potential. What foreign governments could do would be to implement a new, efficient and functional government that serves the people, where the power is not endowed in a single person, but is shared amongst many.
So, aid should be given where necessary. However, the major part of the financial aid should be targeted at developing the country instead of aiding it. (Aid has seemed somehow inefficient in Africa, so adopting a new policy should prove to be a better approach).
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four factors of production*
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1.In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
I believe that Haiti offers great opportunities for foreign investment. Since the economy is at a low, the government has to try to attract foreign firms by offering favorable conditions such as low corporate taxes. The majority of the population is unemployed and would be happy to accept any job which pays. Therefore, firms could enjoy low costs of production and can thus become more competitive in the long run. The only problem is that Haiti doesn't have any valuable resources so that companies have to invest in a new service or industrial sector.
2.How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
Corruption is a big poverty trap for Haiti because it discourages foreign direct investment. Companies do not want to invest in a country with high crime rates or violence because that could automatically lead to political instability. Due to low foreign direct investment, there is little supply of loanable funds in Haiti which means that people do not have the opportunity to borrow money from banks. This will slow economic growth (due to low spending in the economy) as well as development since low levels of income resulting from low economic growth, lead to poor education and health care.
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1.) Haiti’s people and land are probably their most valuable resources. I believe that labor sector could experience great growth if efficient manners of production, for example in the textiles industry, are brought to Haiti. Their closeness to the US already gives them a greater advantage in terms of transport costs, and if infrastructure is invested in and foreign companies invest in producing their goods there, this sector could certainly expand. Their land is also a valuable resource because, as mentioned in the article, 66% of the population works in the primary sector, in agriculture. With a focus on building better and more trade agreements, their exports of coffee and mango could also experience growth, possibly though fair-trade agreements which would allow the country to make higher profits. I can imagine that in countries aware of Haiti’s situation, advertising something like Max Havelaar free trade mangos could attract many consumers wishing to make a contribution.
2.) The growth strategies that the U.N. should eventually pursue in Haiti should involve making the country viable for the efficient production of goods and transportation infrastructure to develop its export sector. The growth strategies are intertwined, and a growth as a whole will follow if aid capital is provided. Either way, after this earthquake, a large investment has to be put into infrastructure. The development of roads to the rural areas, a port with capacity of an increase in exports, and a better and possible second airport (there are plans for one in the north of the country) should be invested in. This would also make direct investment in Haiti more attractive to foreign companies, the second development strategy the company should pursue. Promoting investment in the country to foreign companies, and the development of new trade agreements would lead more companies, like Hanes, to invest in producing their goods there.
3.) The investment in infrastructure is a great strategy, which would certainly promote investment in the country, and create many jobs for the high amount of unemployed people. But, it is also something that takes many years to develop and is very expensive. In the near future, aid companies will be focusing more on providing health services, than building new roads, but hopefully the continued aid flow to Haiti will make that happen.
Promoting investment in Haiti to foreign companies is great development strategy, but also a very hard one. The lack of transportation infrastructure and a stable government may be hard to sell to foreign companies, and will probably also take a while to come about.
4.) Corruption is always a barrier to development, because those with money can work around the laws. Most of the time, people working for the government are paid so little, that they end up having to take bribes to make a living. This makes it hard to tax the folk, as those which have money and could be taxed, find ways around paying taxes.
5.) I think it is possible that in 20 years, Haiti will be better off than it was before the earthquake. If the aid flow to Haiti continues for the next 10 years, they will be able to develop their agricultural sector in the primary sector and their labor services in the secondary sector, and eventually even move into the services sector. I believe the U.N will have to be present for the next 20 years, but eventually, new leaders will arise from the schools and universities which various aid groups are focusing on, and they will be able to run the country themselves, and hopefully experience growth.
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I believe that Haiti's most valuable resource endowment is its labor force. Since many are young and unable to find work, helping out the one industry that they already have, the Hanes company, can lead to increased incomes and standard of living in the country because more people would hold jobs. The people first need to rebuild their homes and help build homes for those that did not previously have them. It will be expensive in the short run, but as for the long run, individuals will have more security it more had their own homes. Haiti can also focus on its main exports and increase those (coffee, mango, etc).
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[...] Here is the blog post that I wrote and used with my students Day Zero in Haiti [...]
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1)I think that the labour force Haiti’s most valuable resource is. Many people are unemployed, however if they did had work, the standards of living of these people would grow, as their income should rise. Also almost half of its population exists of young people, so if they would start creating job opportunities now, the young could in a few years adopt these jobs, which would raise national wealth.
2)One growth strategy could be to perform a more open trade policy with the rest of the world, because the article highlights that Haiti has very cheap labour. Also agricultural good won’t be that expensive, so there might be a great demand for their goods from abroad. This would increase exports and might therefore increase growth, as GDP will go up. Another strategy could be to send aid and help rebuilding Haiti in terms of infrastructure, hospitals and schools.
3)The problem with the more open trade policy is that some developed countries might not be willing to cooperate, because of fair of increased competition or dumping. The problem with aid is that it does not always have the desired effect. Therefore I think that aid should mainly focus on not just sending money, but really go there and help rebuilding the most important necessities, such as schools and hospitals. Another problem with sending aid in the form of money is corruption. Haiti is a country where corruption often occurs, so it might be that the money does not reach its primary goal.
4)As I said in the previous question, corruption is a great barrier to development. A corrupt government could use the money for their own interests instead of helping their country. So if the money isn’t put in development projects, but in the hands of corrupt people, development will not occur.
5)It is hard to predict where Haiti will be in 20 years, especially because I do not know exactly what growth or development has occurred since the earthquake. However I hope that the aid and support from the world after this natural disaster has been invested in the right places, if that has happened and politically Haiti becomes more reliable than it might be that Haiti has developed, at least a little bit.
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I agree with your last point. Haiti is currently in a poverty cycle, however with the attention from abroad after the earthquake it might be that the standards of living will improve after a couple of years, especially if aid is used in the right form.
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1. Haiti's most valuable resource seems to be human resources. Haiti has a large labour force, most of which are unemployed. Besides, it has a dynamic young population. However, Haiti lacks human capital, as the education quality is very poor in the country. Therefore, the country needs labour-intensive industries such as Hanes clothing.
2. I believe that investing in the transportation infrastructure and promoting foreign direct investment of multinational corporations are the best ways to survive the collapse of Haiti. Haiti is an island. This makes the country desperate for the transportation. Right now Haiti needs badly direct foreign investment. The only way to provide this is to convince the multinational corporations that the transportation of the country is well enough to support an export sector.
3. The development of Fair Trade schemes to improve Haiti producer’s access to world markets: This is desperately needed for Haiti to improve their export sector. However, this project will be beneficial in the long run. Haiti needs more urgent solutions.
Facilitating the provision of small loans through Micro Finance schemes: I'm totally against this project. I believe that people have seen the failure of this project in Africa many times.
Developing the export sector by investing in the transportation infrastructure to transport products.: I believe that this is really needed to attract investment into the country. However, this project may cost a lot and takes time to implement.
Exploring new trade agreements with nations: Haiti needs this with the American countries. Again it will take time for Haiti to start trading effectively with these countries.
Promoting foreign direct investment in Haiti by multinational companies. I think this is really significant for Haiti. The direct investment will help Haiti to solve a lot of problems especially the unemployment.
How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
4. The corruption will scare away the foreign direct investment which is desperately needed. The foreign firms will look for a secure and stable economy. Besides, tourism will be badly affected and the level of education will remain poor. Lastly, the foreign countries will not be willing to offer any more aid.
5. I think Haiti will be better in the next twenty years, if the mistakes happened in Africa do not happen in Haiti, too. in Africa, the Western countries always prepare aid schemes which lead to the higher provision of weapons because the money always ends up in the wrong hands. So, in Haiti, the developed countries should be the ones to run the projects. If trade schemes are well implemented, I believe Haiti will be much better.
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I don't think Haiti will use it wisely, as it is always the case in the poor countries. The UN and the developed countries should have the control of the aid and the projects.
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1.In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
Haiti’s most valuable resource can be the unemployed citizens of Haiti. There is a high population of potential workers, labour.
2.Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
Foreign investments can be one of the strategies that can be used in Haiti. Because of high level of labour and land that is not suitable to do agricultural things much can be a concept for an investor. Also due to the cheap goods and labour there will be a good demand on the trade relations with Haiti.
3.Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
In the first strategy the strengths are obvious that Haiti will produce goods and start to be active in production by using its resources of loads of potential workers. On the other hand the weakness of this strategy is that Haiti will become dependent on the foreign investors.
For the second strategy the relation between Haiti and the other countries will get better as there will be “sharing”. On the other hand, because the products produced are cheaper there will be a good demand on those and there will be more exports than imports, which leads a positive balance of payments.
4.How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
A corruption will be a barrier to development and this will affect the foreign investors in a bad way. On the other hand the money earned will not be used for the development of the country that will also affect the development of a country in a bad way.
5.What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
If the investments that have been collected from the world used in a logical and useful way then in 20 years people will see a better Haiti than today. Also there should not be any other natural disasters that will destroy the country.
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1. In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
I believe it is the clothing industry since it has the potential to provide job opportunities as well as the chance for Haiti to manufacture domestically and not dependent on the other countries.
2. Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
Those strategies would be particularly focusing on the most important needs of Haiti; food and shelter. In order to start a further development and increase infrasturacture, those needs to be handled. The building of houses and small market sectors to increase the domestic market demand would be a solution since it also provides people with job opportunities. Also ensuring a systematical government is important to run a stabilizied condition.
3. How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
Corruption would cause the people in charge in the economics, government would misuse of the resources, workforce, capital, land and many other factors and country would go into a worse stage. Also the foreign aids, funds, support would be used in their advantages and it cannot reach the people in need.
4. What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
I do not think there will be noticable developments in Haiti because since it is an improverished country and it is not able to make use of resources and do not have a secondry sector to handle with the manufacturing.
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Thanks for your answers. For the first question I liked your ideas. Especially thinking from the way of land and geography make your response better.
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1.In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
In my opinion, right now Haiti’s(Hanes) the most valuable resource endowment is clothing industry.Because, it is the major industry that they have and they generally export to the U.S.
2.Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
Haiti’s needs are stable . (The things such as; food, water, shelter etc. ) Day by day, the demand for these stuff increases. The clothing and money are can be more significant facts in order to survive however, in order to earn money, they should have good job opportunities that is why the industry should be better and developed.
3.Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
Obvious examples of scarcity in Haiti are lack of job opportunities and food, shelter, water for all peopl. So, in Haiti there should be more working people, otherwise if they stop taking hands outs from the other countries they will need to find a new supplies for themselves. It also have positive effect on the scarcity of food water and shelter for people.
4.How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
Corruption can make the problems worst. It will leads to increase the costs of products and aggregate demand will reduce. As a result people, who live in Haiti will have less money to spend.
5.What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
I think, 20 years isn’t very long time period for a country to solve all the problems. Of course, in this time period, Haiti government can change many things, however, living standards of people and the industry (job opportunities) will not developed too much.
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I aggree with your 5th response. 20 years is not enough to solve all the problems in that country. The government can solve many problems, however the living standards of people and other branches suchs as; industry will stay at a same point for a long time.
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1.The clothing industry is the most valuable resource endowment in Haiti, since it has the potential to provide job opportunities as well as the chance for Haiti to manufacture domestically and not dependent on the other countries.
2.The most important needs of Haiti; food and shelter. In order to start a further development and increase infrasturacture, those needs to be handled. The building of houses and small market sectors to increase the domestic market demand would be a solution since it also provides people with job opportunities. Also ensuring a systematical government is important to run a stabilizied condition.
3. There can be these; the people in charge in the economics, government would misuse of the resources, workforce, capital, land and many other factors and country would go into a worse stage. Also the foreign aids, funds, support would be used in their advantages and it cannot reach the people in need.
4. According to my idea there will be noticable developments in Haiti because since it is an improverished country and it is not able to make use of resources and do not have a secondry sector to handle with the manufacturing.
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1.In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
In my opinion, Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment is the Hanes clothing industry. The Hanes clothing industry provides labour-intensive employment for many Haitians, increases domestic goods and services production and provides export revenue for the nation.
2.Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
-Export-led growth is an outward-orientated growth strategy, based on openness and increased international trade. Growth is achieved by concentrating on increasing exports and export revenue, as a leading factor in aggregate demand of the country. Increasing exports should lead to a greater GDP, thus leading to higher incomes and eventually growth in domestic industries.
-Haiti could use its destroyed landscape as a form of employment. By training locals in construction and management, the building industry could see large growth as it would be in high demand for labour. This would provide employment for thousands of Haitians and allow for a speedy physical recovery.
3.Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
-Export-led growth might only be beneficial in the short run. Haiti will be able to provide cheap labour, thus making Haitian exports very cheap. This greatly boosts exports for the country and increases export revenue. However, many foreign countries will, in the long-run, start to complain about how cheap Haiti’s exports are, deeming it unfair. These countries may appeal to the WTO and place trade barriers on Haiti, thus limiting its development.
-The reconstruction of Haiti cannot go on forever. Therefore, the booming construction industry may not necessarily continue booming in the long-run. Therefore, this will only provide employment in the short run.
4.How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
Corruption is a factor that stands in the way of development for Haiti. Corruption may influence the direction of the foreign aid, which will more than often not reach those who need it most. Furthermore, on the long-run, if corruption remains, many foreign governments who are providing the aid may stop the flow of money to Haiti as they see as a wasteful investment.
5.What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
I don’t think Haiti will grow much in 20 years. Haiti has always been an impoverished country due to its corruption and poor government actions. Therefore, a recovery may see relative development, but not substantial development will occur until government leadership is sorted out.
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I don't necessarily agree with your answer to the fourth question. Do you not think that corruption will continue to reign in Haiti, thus blocking development? With such high levels of corruption, Haiti will never be able to develop at such a fast rate as China and India.
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1. Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment can be the Hanes clothing industry. Because the Hanes clothing industry provides labour-intensive employment for many Haitians, which will avoid unemployment (this can cause poor living standard due to low or no income), increase its production growth.
2. -Export-led growth.The growth here can be focused in increase their exports which will then help to increase export revenue. Increase in exports will gives higher incomes, better standard of living and increase in GDP.
-Another way is to teach the local people to be more skillful and developed their knowledge on advanced technologies. These are very significant as it can improve their skills and enables them to produce local goods with better standards and higher quality. This can also help the people to be able to find jobs in developed countries with the skills they have.
3. It may takes a lot of time in teaching the local people and the time wasted may be used for helping in the plantation and other farmers areas.
4. When corruption occurs, the government is not using the money that people are paying for the benefits of the people in Haiti. The government is using the money for their own benefit, and if they do not use this money for education, health centre and investment for examples, people of Haiti will not be skillful and receive lesser education which can cause them not to be ablt to find jobs or producing better production. Bad hygiene and no good health centres will affect the workers health and not be able to work. Investment will affect the economy growth and the business in running in Haiti.
5. it is very hard to predict indeed as economy and people changes. If the government in the future will be better and the people are much wiser, the country may develop even better than today.
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If the corruption continues for the next 20years, it is possible that Haiti will stay the same or even worse if people who works in the government only thinks of their own benefits!
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1.In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
In my opinion, it is the clothing industry, because it provides job opportunities. I also helps Haiti to produce independently.
2. Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
3.Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
The production should be independent. I mean they need to manufacture more domestically. This will improve their economy. The other thing can be improving the transportation since Haiti is an island which is not connected to the world enough. However, both of them are nor priorities of the government, because there are problems like poverty, and shelter.
4. How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
When the corruption occurs, the foreigners will not make any investment and this will lead a decrease in the tourism. All of them will be barriers to future development of Haiti.
4. What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
I do not think there will be a significant development in 20 years, because we have African countries in which most of the things occurred in Haiti has been observed, and it resulted in Africa in which ethnic problems and wars seen a lot.
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1. The textile industry is Haiti's most valuable resource. This is a very labor intensive industry, and has the potential to employ many people. With having a large pool of young workers (who are jobless), this provides a large opportunity. Also, because there isn't much geographical space on Haiti, agriculture doesn't seem to be the best option.
2. i. Export-led growth – focused to increase exports, to give higher incomes, and in turn a higher GDP.
ii. Infrastructure investment – attempting to flesh out transportation and power infrastructure could help accelerate any other investments
3. i. This is only really viable in the short run, as because Haiti is able to provide cheap labor for now (making exports really cheap), this will eventually need to go away for economic development to further.
ii. Infrastructure is very expensive at first, but is much more useful in the long run for Haiti.
4. Corruption could mean that any money that is spent trying to help Haiti ends up going to a few individuals (who don't really need the help), rather than those who need it. Also, corruption tends to go with higher inflation rates, etc. which doesn't help any aid efforts.
5. If the correct investments are made in Haiti, it could be a much more developed country than it is now. With enough effort, it could look something like Hawaii, with a successful tourism industry, as well as economic investment in other areas.
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I feel like you are being overly optimistic for your answer to question 5. If the correct investments are made, and some of the corruption is cleaned up, and country truly gets on the right track will it become a developing country. If they are not willing to make any changes, no amount of money thrown at them will make a difference.
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•In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
Haiti’s most valuable endowment is the clothing/textile industry. This is because it employs many young people who would otherwise be unemployed and not contributing to society.
•Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
One method would be to educate the farmers to become more productive and hence produce more efficiently. This would create a steady flow of product, which can help rise a bigger industry with more regularity.
A second method could be to relate the increase in efficiency of farmers which would allow excess stock to be exported overseas.
•Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
The education of farmers can be productive given that it is physically possible to grow and harvest products and to increase these levels significantly over time.
Higher increases in exports suggests a more balanced financial sheet and a good developing country on the long run.
•How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
Corruption prevents the aid money to reach the people who really need it. It also provoke reactions such as greed and wealth which then makes leaders act in their own personal interest rather than consider what is best the country as a whole.
What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
Haiti has the potential to become a tourist hotspot due to its ideal positioning in the middle of the Caribbean, however with inevitable natural disasters destroying infrastructure as well as corruption, it might be difficult for the nation to progress.
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You say that the main resource endowment for Haiti is foreign investment, and how the government has to try and make it appealing for other countries to come and take a look at what Haiti has to offer.
I believe that this is a very valid point, in terms of what valuable endowment it could exploit, however I think that the questions is asking what endowment is most valuable at this current time, which is the clothing/textile market in my eyes because it employs many young people who would otherwise be unemployed.
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1.I think the most valuable resource endowment for Haiti is its people. Like the article states, much of the country’s population is under the age of 14. If the nation is able to develop in time to harness the potential from this young sector of the population, it will certainly raise the standard of living as people become employed. As for other resources, Haiti has not been so lucky.
2.I think that a microcredit scheme should be implemented, not by NGOs but by MNCs. This empowers the poor so they are able to pursue their entrepreneurial abilities. Another development strategy could be for donors to invest in education in Haiti to ensure that its young population has more opportunities as they get older.
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3.Implementing a microcredit scheme has both advantages and disadvantages. It can help people as they require capital to fund entrepreneurial endeavors. They can lift themselves out of poverty and hopefully become self sufficient eventually in terms of capital. However, implementing such a scheme could also encourage a culture of debt and interest repayments. People, who are unused to paying off debt and interest, may be taken advantage of due to their misinformation. Investing in education also has both advantages and disadvantages when it comes to encouraging growth. On one hand, it can empower the poor as they are more educated and become more skilled workers on the labour market. However on the other hand, the aid could be siphoned off by corrupt officials seeking to cash in on this aid coming in from foreign countries.
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4.Corruption can be a huge barrier as funds are not used to develop the country. Infrastructure may lay in ruins and other public services as well. Much of the stolen money is also shipped out to private funds and investments. The government subsequently does not receive tax benefits from this money.
5.I think it is highly speculative to determine what Haiti will be like in 20 years. It can either be two things. It can either be in the same place it is today, destitute and poverty-stricken, or it can be on the pathway to growth and prosperity. Much of Haiti’s future depends on the decisions made by its leaders and the level of corruption present in the coming years.
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@ Ozge Elif
I think that whether or not Haiti develops in the future depends on what industry or service Haiti decides to focus production in. If the government makes the right decisions, there might be development in sight for the Haitian people. Hopefully the outside world recognises the investment opportunities in Haiti and begin to pursue those ambitions.
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1.I think one of Haiti’s most valuable resources is its agriculture. Because of its location, it has a climate that can grow certain crops that do not grow easily in other parts of the world. They should take advantage of this.
2.Developing the export sector by investing in the transportation infrastructure to transport products – They could invest some of the foreign aid in infrastructure development
Facilitating the provision of small loans through Micro Finance schemes – they could use some of the foreign aid to start micro finance schemes so individuals could build homes and start businesses
3.The first would help the economy develop in general, as better infrastructure allows the economy to develop. It could be difficult to manage, however, as there is a lot of room for corruption. The same is true of the second. Also, for a micro loan program, there is little control over what the individuals spend the money on, so they could spend it on things that don’t help the economy develop.
4.There will be a lot of money involved, which means that there is a lot of room for corruption. If development programs are mismanaged, they will not work very well.
5.I think it will still be a developing country, but hopefully closer to being developed than it is now.
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@Mehmet
I agree with your answer. I also think it will be interesting to see how Haiti develops if they use their aid in different ways to Africa, as the way the aid programs were implemented in Africa didn’t work very well.
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The Virtual Trade Tour
1-
a.Exchange Rate is the price which it can be exchange for another currency.
b.If there is an increase in the taxes or an economic activity like that, the investors would like to have less prosperity in that country. Thus, they preferred to exchange them into some other currencies. This is called capital flight.
2-During the years among 1965 and 1980, the fixed exchange regime was dominant. During the years among 1990 and 1998, the floating exchange regime was dominant.
3-
4-It is showed in the data that parallel market occurred during the floating exchange regime. Because, as the exchange rates for dollars increased, people would tend to buy dollars at cheaper prices. Therefore, the parallel market would offer the dollars at cheaper prices. Since the government would not intervene in deciding on the exchange rates, the exchange rates for dollars would keep increasing. Thus, the black market would increase as they provide dollars at cheaper prices.
5-
1970198019911998
Official Exchange Rate0,710,7964,64
Black Market Exchange Rate01,3133,3
% difference01.652.06
There for as it is seen by % difference, the difference increased.
1-I think Haiti can only survive from its income from agriculture for the time-being. As it is explained in the article, it has only primary sector of coffee, mango, etc. Therefore, they are the raw materials which can be regarded as the most valuable endowment of Haiti.
2-First of all, Haiti has a big disadvantage. Apart from being an underdeveloped and poor country, it has drawbacks in terms of its geographical situation. Since it is an island, it is demanding for especially transportation in either imports or exports. That is why; some actions are needed to be done in order to overcome this problem. Then export-led growth strategy can be imposed. It aims to increase exports and income from exports. Also, an increase would be observed in AD as well as in GDP, which would lead growth in Haitian economy.
3-It would be hard for Haiti to recover its transportation problem by itself. Some foreign aid would be needed. The government must have loans from foreign monetary sources. On the other hand, if export-led growth strategy works, Haitian currency would have more value. Then Haitian goods and services would be less appealing and cheap for the foreigners.
4-Since the infrastructure of the country is devastated, all the money obtained would be used to rebuild and to heal the people. Haiti is already poor and cannot deal with all these spending on its own. Some foreign monetary help is needed. That is why; it is not possible for the country to develop its economy from foreign help.
5-I believe with the help of direct foreign aid, Haiti would be able to recover its economy. First of all, its infrastructure should be renewed. That would be with the foreign aid. After that, some stimulative policies could be imposed to increase exports revenue. However, unless Haiti is given a hand at this juncture, it is not possible to achieve it own its own. Furthermore, as an island, it would be appealing for the tourists just like the other Caribbean countries. Within 20 years, Haiti could be regarded as a developing country then.
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1.)Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment could be its population, which is 40% under the age of 14. A country could be seen as stable if it had a 25-50-25 split in percentage of population between the age groups of 16 and under, 27-64, and 65 and older, respectively. However, since most of Haiti’s population is in the youngest sector of the different age groups, it means that Haiti should focus on establishing jobs and stability for that part of the population. That 40% of the population should be the foundation for Haiti’s future.
2.)One strategy that the people in Haiti should use is to adopt an export-led growth strategy. Haiti should focus on expanding its textile industry. Thus, they could develop and not be forced to rely on the export of their raw material and agriculture. Another strategy is to obtain bonds, loans, and donations from the world to develop their industries. This could in turn lead to the industries developing and setting up foundations for schools and the education of the young people in Haiti.
3.)The strength of adopting an export-led growth is that it allows Haiti to develop a stable economy where they aren’t dependent on imports from other power nations. The weakness is that it is dependent of Haiti’s currency, which maybe weak and is affected by the government. The strength of obtaining loans and donations is that it allows Haiti to develop its industries for the future. The weakness is that speculation plays a large role for stakeholders and they may be hesitant to give much money.
4.)Corruption could be a barrier for development in the future. Corruption will affect the speculation of stakeholders who wish to help Haiti develop. Thus, tourism, economic output, and speculation about Haiti’s industry will be hurt and will decrease.
5.)I think Haiti will be in a slightly better situation than it currently is but it will still be struggling and developing. Clearly, Haiti’s history has shown that its economy has been struggling. However, Haiti does have a chance at improving significantly once it recovers from the recent disaster. However, this may be difficult due to the recent economic world downfall.
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@ Quinn, I agree with your answer to question #1, Clearly, Haiti's major population is young and it can be used to help develop the future. I also agree with your answer to #5. I think Haiti's short-term future can be viewed as struggling and the same as today. However, there is certainly hope for Haiti and its economy can develop if its leaders make wise economic strategies/decisions.
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•In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
In my opinion, I think the most valuable resource endowment to Haiti would be its land resources which is mainly used for the production of agriculture as 60% of the population in Haiti work on farmland and the main exports are agricultural products such as coffee, mango and many more. Another valuable resource would be that Haiti is labor intensive. Haiti has a lot of skilled and unskilled labor. It is due to this labor that Haiti can trade and produce the products they are producing at the moment.
•Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
The first strategy that can lead Haiti to development is by Haiti concentrating on increasing exports and export revenue as a leading factor in the aggregate demand of the country. Increase in exports will then in turn lead to increasing in GDP, which will lead to higher income and finally growth in domestic markets. The second such strategy that Haiti can adopt is their redirection of spending priorities from indiscriminate subsidies to basic health and education. This will in turn help with a lot of other factors as education will make the citizens of Haiti more aware of their imports, exports, and other strategies.
•Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
From the first strategy of export-led growth the disadvantage is that if Haiti starts to depend on it a lot it may not gain the export revenue it expects and the advantage of this strategy is that it leads to higher income and development of the Haiti if the results of the export-led growth is good. For the second strategy the advantage is that education will lead to higher and literate skilled labour force but the disadvantage is that the process will be expensive.
•How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
If aids are given out to Haiti in order to help them develop but instead the government due to corruption takes the aid and does not give it to the citizens of Haiti. This is a barrier to the future development of Haiti as they have no incoming trade due to political corruption.
What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
If corruption is reduced then Haiti can slowly and steadily become a developed country as long as they use growth and development strategies and reduce corruption.
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1. I think the most valuable resource in Haïti is the agricultural sector. Much of Haïtis land is undeveloped and developing agriculture requires the least foreign investment and the least capital to create a booming industry. The Haitian people already have many of the necessary factors of production for agriculture.
2. One strategy is export led growth. The textile industry could be focused on as it will lead to an increase of exports and therefore an increase in revenue and GDP. Another option would be to take loans and direct aid from foreign investors. The direct aid would lead to the development of new industries and newer capital in industry
3. One of the weaknesses of the first method is the difficulty in creating reduced tariffs agreeable to all parties. A pro is that it is a long term solution because trade will continue to create development after the country is no longer in crisis.
The second method would be difficult to implement because Iof the amount of corruption in the Governement. It would be difficult to ensure the aid got to its intended beneficiaries. A pro is that it could create more immediate relief.
4. Corruption makes it harder for international relations to be formed because of troubles with diplomacy and symbiotic relationships. It also means there are higher barriers to entry in markets as well as a smaller market.
5. I think portions of Haiti will be more developed if the churches and NGOs continue there heavy direct involvement; however, without job training and the like, the country will not develope.
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Good Response! Another valuable resource can be their agriculture as they export mangos and coffee which is where Haiti's income comes from mainly so without that they wouldn't have much to trade with. So agriculture is also a main criteria.
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1.In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
Haiti’s most valuable resource is textile industry. It can supply good opportunity in terms of employment. Less unemployment with textile industry is able to increase the standards of living.
2.Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
Those strategies are export-led growth and infrastructure invests. Export-led growth is able to increase the exports and opportunity to increase the incomes. This is also able to increase the standards of living. Infrastructure investment can increase the other investments so the economical power of the country can increase.
3.Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
It needs more time and expensive to increase the investments at the beginning. Those are useful but at first hard to apply in the country.
4.How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
Spending money for less useful areas can cause corruption. Government spends the money for its benefits not for the society, education, health etc. This is a barrier for a country for development.
5.What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
It depends on the behaviors of the government of Haiti. If they can use their resources in a good way they can develop and increase the standards of living. But otherwise they cannot make their economy better and cannot develop.
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Hi Bryan, I agree with you about the fifth question. It is totally about the economical behaviors of the government of Haiti.
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1.In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
I would say that it is their people. One of the statistics in the blog post noted that 40% of the population is under age 14. If they are able to get a good education/vocational training, then they could have a very powerful workforce.
2.Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
As I noted in my answer to the first question, educating their future workforce would help them grow their economy and hence develop as a country. In addition, the infrastructure needs to be rebuilt after the earthquake. A newer, better infrastructure will make it easier for companies to do business, as well as improve the general quality of life.
3.Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
The strength of education will be to make their country look more attractive to firms looking to manufacture products in other countries. The weakness would be that it is very difficult to implement and takes a long time to pay off. Infrastructure is strong because it is perhaps the most straight-forward and quickest growth strategy to implement, but on the other hand it will need to be replaced again in just a couple decades.
4.How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
With all the aid flowing into Haiti after the earthquake, it might be misused by corrupt officials. While I suppose you could say this is developing the lives of these particular officials, it does not help the country as a whole.
5.What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
I am sure they will have made substantial progress since the devastating earthquake, but at the same time I think they will still have a long way to go before they can consider themselves ‘developed.’
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@twilliam
What are the strengths and weakness of an export-led growth strategy?
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1) In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resources endowment? Explain
I would say that Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment is its population. 40% of Haiti’s population is 14 years old or younger. This means that Haiti has a lot of potential to grow in the future as its young population grows older.
2) Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
To go along with my answer to question one, I would say that Haiti needs to focus on education and health. Education because they have a huge population of young people who can help build Haiti back up in a few years if they have a good education now. Also, health care is an important area because Haiti’s population is not living long enough to contribute as much as they could. This is shown by the fact that only 60% of people are older than 14.
3) Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
Improving education will make it more appealing for manufacturers to open up factories in Haiti to give people jobs. Also, better education will help Haiti to compete with more developed nations in areas such as electronics. The weakness is that this is not a short-term fix for Haiti, rather a long term one. The strength of improving health care is that people will live with better quality of lives and healthy people make for healthy workers who do not miss days of work. The weakness of focusing on health is that many people in Haiti could not pay for health care or get to where they need to go to get health care.
4) How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
Corruption would be a huge barrier to future development since corrupt governments might direct funds towards themselves and use the foreign aid for there new car or house rather than spending it on the population in Haiti.
5) What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
I could see Haiti having recovered from the earthquake but if the current corruption continues I do not see them having made too much more progress towards being developed.
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@HEppler
In response to your first answer, what about the young population. If Haiti is looking for long term economic development/growth, should they not focus on educating their young population so that they might be able to get higher skilled jobs in the future. Focusing on agriculture, the same sector they have focused in the past, may unfortunately not get Haiti much closer to being developed.
Noah
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1.In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
Textile, because unemployment reduced by textile endustries and they cannot get money from tourism because there are lots of pirates there and they do not have anyother resources so textile is very important for Haiti.
2.Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
They may create new tourism methods by providin better accomodation, facilities and by making advertisements they can increase number of tourists and my changing marketing concept they can increase their growth.
3.Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
Money is not available so they need to borrow money form other countries and if they can get aloan, they can profit on that.
4.How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
Money is not gonna be used for growth strategies so people will pocket the money.
5.What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
if they can address corruption, they will become successfull.
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In your opinion, what is Haiti’s most valuable resource endowment? Explain.
Haiti's most valuable resource is their population. With 40% of the population under the age of 14, this means that the youth of the nation will decide the fate in years to come. Education is the best plan for Haiti's success.
Choose two development or growth strategies and explain how these could be implemented in Haiti.
The development of Fair Trade schemes to improve Haiti producer’s access to world markets and exploring new trade agreements with nations. This could be implemented by expanding the production sector of Haiti's economy. Exploring new trade agreements with nations could be implemented by diplomatically engaging other countries in talks about fair trade which would eventually lead to a fair trade agreement.
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
If Haiti has more access to world market's, their sales force will expand and thus lead to increased revenue. This will also cause the unemployment rate within Haiti to decrease. However, this could leave Haiti more vulnerable to the outside influence of other countries economies.
New trade agreements with nations would allow Haiti to trade fairly with other nations and promote free trade. The only weakness here is that these trade agreements could be amended and used in advantage of other nations.
How could corruption be a barrier to the future development of Haiti?
Corruption could cause Haiti's economy to be mismanaged and therefore unregulated. As we have seen with countless other countries, a poorly regulated government leads to economic downturn. Keep in mind that Haiti is one of the most corrupt nations so corruption may be a very prevalent issue in this economy.
What do you think Haiti will be like in 20 years?
In 20 years, Haiti's young population will be educated and ready to take on the economic challenges of the past. If Haiti's population is not educated now, their chances of having a thriving economy will severely decrease.
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I very much agree with Noah. The young population is the key to Haiti's success in the future. Education now is what will allow Haiti to have a thriving economy in the future.
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