Economic Reform in Haiti: Past Failures and Future Success?*

The article attempts to answer the question of what has made economic policy reform founder on two occasions in Haiti from 1986 to the present. First, the reform episodes and setbacks are sketched. Second, an explanation is offered that runs in terms of the political degeneration of the Haitian state into a kleptocracy and the rent-creating behavior of the latter. Third, the roots of kleptocracy are sought in the political and economic events of the nineteenth century. Fourth, the characteristics of the current reform effort are sketched. Finally, the risk that this effort will stumble on the Haitian political structures is discussed.