A Supply and Demand approach to the Institutional Performance of Haiti
Abstract
La reciente crisis política en Haití, el país más pobre en el Hemisferio Occidental, de nuevo ha llamado la atención de la comunidad internacional. Este artículo intenta describir la infortunada trayectoria de desarrollo de Haití, y propone algunas hipótesis explicativas. Debido a que las explicaciones tradicionales de línea Marxista o economía Neoclásica parecen ser insuficientes, este artículo ofrece un enfoque institucional para entender mejor las causas de la pobreza y visualizar soluciones políticas. Se propone que la oferta y demanda de instituciones adecuadas ha sido insuficiente, debido a estrategias suboptimas elegidas por dictadores y el público/ejercito. El equilibrio suboptimo ha sido: adoptar estrategias predatorias/desobedecer la ley y adoptar estrategias predatorias/organizar golpes de estado. Esta hipótesis confirma la idea de "trayectorias de dependencia" -path dependence- propuesta por Douglass North, y sugiere que mas educación y/o la reducción del tamaño del gobierno pueden ser soluciones de largo plazo para los recurrentes problemas que Haiti ha enfrentado durante los ultimos 200 anos.
The recent political crisis in Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, has again called the attention of the international community. This paper tries to describe the development path of Haiti, and advances some hypotheses explaining its reasons. Since the traditional explanations proposed by Marxists and neoclassical economists seem to be insufficient, this paper offers an Institutional approach to improve our understanding of the causes of poverty in Haiti and to visualize policy solutions. The claim is that the supply and demand of enforceable institutions had been low, due to suboptimal strategies played by the dictators and the public/army. The suboptimal equilibrium has been predate/disobey the law, and predate/organize a cue. This hypothesis reinforces Douglass North's idea of 'path dependence', and suggests that more education and/or the reduction of the scope of government could be long-term solutions for the repeated political economy problems that Haiti has experienced during the past 200 years.
The recent political crisis in Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, has again called the attention of the international community. This paper tries to describe the development path of Haiti, and advances some hypotheses explaining its reasons. Since the traditional explanations proposed by Marxists and neoclassical economists seem to be insufficient, this paper offers an Institutional approach to improve our understanding of the causes of poverty in Haiti and to visualize policy solutions. The claim is that the supply and demand of enforceable institutions had been low, due to suboptimal strategies played by the dictators and the public/army. The suboptimal equilibrium has been predate/disobey the law, and predate/organize a cue. This hypothesis reinforces Douglass North's idea of 'path dependence', and suggests that more education and/or the reduction of the scope of government could be long-term solutions for the repeated political economy problems that Haiti has experienced during the past 200 years.
Description
No. 4