Recent developments. Haiti is facing exceptionally challenging circumstances. The deteriorating security environment, which reached crisis proportions in the first few months of 2024, has continued to worsen, disrupting supply chains (particularly energy and basic services) and feeding...

This paper studies school choice and information frictions in Haiti. Through a randomized control trial, we assess the impact of disclosing school-level test score information on learning outcomes, prices, and market shares. We find evidence that in markets where information was disclosed,...

This paper examines the socioeconomic factors correlated with vulnerability to natural hazards, using unique data from the High-Frequency Phone Surveys conducted in Haiti in 2021, 2022, and 2023. The results indicate a high overall exposure to hazards, with a significant number of individuals...

This paper describes George Washington's administration response to a plea for emergency war financing from French colonists who were trying to quash a slave rebellion in Haiti (then Saint Domingue). Washington bypassed Congress and authorized assistance to the French planters, hoping that...

Building on progress achieved under the previous SMP which ended in May 2023, on June 29, 2023, Management approved a new Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) for a nine-month period spanning from June 30 through March 31, 2024

This paper studies school choice and information frictions in Haiti. Through a randomized control trial, we assess the impact of disclosing school-level test score information on learning outcomes, prices, and market shares. We find evidence that in markets where information was disclosed,...

Le présent rapport s’articule autour de trois éléments : facteurs primaires. Premièrement, les administrations douanières ont tendance de continuer à fonctionner dans des situations de crise, contrairement aux d'autres services gouvernementaux. De plus, la fiscalité douanière est le...

Haiti is facing exceptional challenges. While security has deteriorated steadily since the last 2019 Article IV Consultation, it reached crisis proportions in the first few months of 2024. Gangs controlled 80 percent of the capital during March-May 2024, paralyzing economic activity by...

We assess the impact of the 2010 Haiti earthquake on children's nutrition and education. We combine geo-coded shaking intensity data with four waves of the Haiti Demographic Health Survey, two administered before and two after the earthquake. We find lasting negative impacts of the earthquake on...

This paper studies school choice and information in the context of education markets in rural Haiti. Using a market level randomized control trial, we evaluate the aggregate effect of providing test score information on subsequent test scores, prices, and enrollment. After the intervention, we...

We assess the impact of the 2010 Haiti earthquake on children's nutrition and education. We combine geo-coded shaking intensity data with four waves of the Haiti Demographic Health Survey, two administered before and two after the earthquake. We find lasting negative impacts of the earthquake on...

We assess the impact of the 2010 Haiti earthquake on children s nutrition and education. We combine geo-coded shaking intensity data with four waves of the Haiti Demographic Health Survey, two administered before and two after the earthquake. We find lasting negative impacts of the earthquake on...

We assess the impact of the 2010 Haiti earthquake on children’s nutrition and education. We combine geo-coded shaking intensity data with four waves of the Haiti Demographic Health Survey, two administered before and two after the earthquake. We find lasting negative impacts of the earthquake...

The Adaptive Social Protection for Increased Resilience project (ASPIRE or PSARA for its acronym in French), financed by The World Bank and implemented by the government of Haiti, aims to design and implement a cash transfer program for vulnerable households in Haiti, with a focus on increasing...

Mobility of goods and people in rural Haiti is constrained by the sparce road network and low maintenance of existing infrastructure. These challenges are further exacerbated by frequent natural disasters, including seasonal floods and earthquakes of significant magnitudes. This study conducted...

We examine recently collected data from Haiti's social registry new shock module to measure the scale of the August 2021 earthquake's impact on households and assess the adequacy of the relief response. In the aftermath of the earthquake, a survey module was promptly developed for the national...

We assess the impact of the 2010 Haiti earthquake on children's nutrition and education. We combine geo-coded shaking intensity data with four waves of the Haiti Demographic Health Survey, two administered before and two after the earthquake. We find lasting negative impacts of the earthquake on...

We assess the impact of the 2010 Haiti earthquake on children’s nutrition and education. We combine geo-coded shaking intensity data with four waves of the Haiti Demographic Health Survey, two administered before and two after the earthquake. We find lasting negative impacts of the earthquake...

This paper presents Haiti's Staff-Monitored Program (SMP). Building on progress achieved under the previous SMP, which was satisfactorily concluded in May 2023, the new 9-month SMP should contribute to macroeconomic stability by helping Haiti sustain recent policy reforms designed to enhance...

This paper presents Haiti's Second Review under the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP). The SMP has helped the government restore macroeconomic stability and strengthen governance and fiscal transparency. The SMP has played an important role in advancing decisive governance reforms to enhance...

This paper discusses Haiti's Request for Disbursement under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF). While Haiti's population was already suffering severe malnutrition and food insecurity before the war in Ukraine, especially its suffering has been compounded by the surge in food commodity prices. IMF...

This paper highlights Haiti's First Review under the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP). The SMP will help the government restore macroeconomic stability and lower inflation-a key goal given the burden of high inflation on the poor. The SMP seeks to advance decisive governance reforms to enhance...

This paper studies school choice and information in the context of education markets in rural Haiti. Using a market level randomized control trial, we evaluate the aggregate effect of providing test score information on subsequent test scores, prices, and enrollment. After the intervention, we...

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have played an increasingly important role in global governance. Since the end of the Second World War, they have been involved in every aspect of social, economic, environmental, and institutional life in the whole world. The presence of NGOs has been seen...

From August to October 2020, the Haitian authorities were successful at bringing about a sharp appreciation in the gourde/U.S. dollar exchange rate. This paper analyzes the factors behind this appreciation and its spillovers on the economy. It finds that foreign exchange surrender requirements...

Haiti, once the largest eighteenth-century economy in the Caribbean under French colonial rule, is now the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world. A broken financial system is partially to blame. We provide an in-depth examination of the state of financial...

Haiti's economic and social development continues to be hindered by political instability, corruption, and fragility. This Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) Update draws on existing and new analysis, publications, and extensive consultations and ongoing dialogue with public and private sector...

Understanding the key factors that underlie the efficiency of specific health programs is key to improve population health. This is especially true for Haiti, where utilization of health services (in the formal sector) on average is very low, even when compared to other low-income countries, and...

From August to October 2020, the Haitian authorities were successful at bringing about a sharp appreciation in the gourde/U.S. dollar exchange rate. This paper analyzes the factors behind this appreciation and its spillovers on the economy. It finds that foreign exchange surrender requirements...

This paper highlights Haiti's Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) and report proceedings. It is not feasible for Haiti to implement an upper credit tranche (UCT) IMF-supported program at this time due to the weakened policy frameworks and erosion in administrative capacity during the protracted...

This report is motivated by three primary factors. First, customs administrations tend to continue to operate in crisis situations, contrary to other government services. Moreover, customs taxation is the simplest tax instrument to enforce during security crisis periods because it concerns...

This paper examines the socioeconomic factors correlated with vulnerability to natural hazards, using unique data from the High-Frequency Phone Surveys conducted in Haiti in 2021, 2022, and 2023. The results indicate a high overall exposure to hazards, with a significant number of individuals...

"Leading scholar Alex Dupuy investigates themes of class, power, and gender in Haiti in the capitalist world-economy-from independence and indemnity to the US occupation and current crisis after the assassination of President Moïse. This book provides new perspectives on Haiti's political...

The paper analyzes the need for structural change in the Haitian economy, an economy where the majority make their living in agriculture – a sector characterized by a severe erosion problem. It is argued that tourism does not offer any solution, other than possibly in the long run. The only...

This article introduces the Haitian Independence Debt of 1825 to the odious debt and sovereign debt literatures. We argue that the legal doctrine of odious debt is surprisingly and perhaps indefensibly narrow possibly because of historical contingency rather than any underlying logic or...

In 1804 Haiti declared its independence from France, after defeating French forces in a twelve-year long slave insurrection turned revolutionary war. Two decades later, France finally agreed to recognize Haitian statehood on the condition that Haiti pay a substantial indemnity to compensate...

The Haitian Independence Debt has been a source of comment and controversy for nearly two decades. Haiti’s moral claim for restitution is doubted by no one, not even France. But the mechanics of restitution have long remained unclear. This paper attempts to supply a remedy. Through the form of...

This paper discusses whether Haiti can recover from France payments for the independence debt under the legal theory of unjust enrichment. After exploring the possibility of raising a claim of unjust enrichment in U.S. and the likelihood of initiating a similar proceeding before an international...