James Crawford
Aug 25, 2017 · 1 min read

These are all good points (as were Tyler’s) but I would add that Haiti’s French heritage isn’t just important because French rule was exceptionally bad but because French rule is an outlier in the Caribbean. The largest former French colony in the region after Haiti is Guadeloupe whose population is only 400,000.

This makes regional integration very difficult as doing business in another language is difficult (on top of other cultural and institutional factors). China’s growth was aided by the diaspora outside of China who could be tapped on for capital. The US leveraged connections with Britain and Europe to great effect. The other Carribean countries have been able to do this to some extent but Haiti stands alone. Proximity isn’t enough for trade to happen. The frictions for the regional integration of Haiti are much larger than for the other island nations.

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