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Tag Archives: Haiti

Wyclef Jean for Prez?

By Laura Freschi | Published August 7, 2010

In a world where being an actor, a rock star, or sex video vixen is sufficient qualification for people to sit up and pay attention to your ideas about how to solve world poverty, it comes as no great shock that Wyclef Jean has decided to run for President of Haiti. Herewith, we attempt two arguments in favor of the former Fugees frontman’s candidacy, and two against.

In Favor:

  1. Wyclef Jean demonstrated his impressive

…

Posted in Badvocacy and celebs | Also tagged 6 Comments

The lure of starting from scratch

By Laura Freschi | Published June 17, 2010

It is an acknowledged national characteristic that Americans believe in self-reinvention. One of our founding myths—inspired by the once unexplored and sparsely populated expanse of the North American continent—is the idea that you can head out of town, leave the encumbrances of the past behind, and start over in a new, unspoiled place.

What would happen if we brought this sensibility to development plans for poorer, more crowded nations? What if we already do?

The…

Posted in Grand plans/ aid targets | Also tagged 31 Comments

Is it easier to start an NGO than a business in Haiti?

By William Easterly | Published May 30, 2010

From today’s NYT:

Alain Armand, 36, a Haitian-American lawyer from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who is now trying to open several businesses here in Port-au-Prince, the capital, including a bed and breakfast.

Trying is the operative word, he said: “It costs $3,000, and it takes at least three months to get incorporated. There is no organized structure in which we, outsiders to NGO-land, can operate.”

Meanwhile, one list for Haiti lists 822 NGOs operating.

Posted in Entrepreneurship | 13 Comments

Of mangos and plastic crates

By Laura Freschi | Published May 28, 2010

Sometimes the things that keep people in poverty seem so small and so insignificant, and the remedies seem so simple, that it’s hard for people from rich countries to understand why they remain impoverished.

Jelen, a Haitian farmer living on about $2 a day, can’t get enough water to her mango trees, even though there is a river just beside her property. She needs a simple canal dug from the river to irrigate her…

Posted in Aid policies and approaches, Disaster/ humanitarian aid | Also tagged 15 Comments

Are aid donors now running Haiti?

By Guest Blogger | Published April 28, 2010

This post is written by Daniel Altman

Who will determine Haiti’s future?  Probably not the Haitians.  With aid groups enlarging their presence on the ground and foreign governments exercising control through their wallets, Haiti’s future may be out of the hands of the Haitians for years to come.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the recently convened Interim Committee for the Reconstruction of Haiti (CIRH), which will set the nation’s priorities during an 18-month state…

Posted in Aid policies and approaches, Disaster/ humanitarian aid | Also tagged , , , 15 Comments

Who is best qualified to help Haiti? Why not the Haitian diaspora?

By William Easterly | Published March 7, 2010

Toronto Globe and Mail columist Margaret Wente:

Who can offer the most help to the desperate children of Haiti? Is it Bill Clinton, Jeffrey Sachs, the World Bank or the UN? Is it the many experts who are calling for a Marshall Plan to “fix” Haiti once and for all, or the donor nations that have pledged billions for the task?

Personally, I would choose people like Eric and Nicole Pauyo. The Haitian-Canadian couple,

…

Posted in Disaster/ humanitarian aid, In the news | Also tagged , , , , , 7 Comments

Analyzing We are the World for Haiti as a Music Critic and Aid Critic

By William Easterly | Published February 23, 2010

Even aid critics have their sentimental side. I confess I was genuinely moved watching this video, which has been viewed more than 13 million times on YouTube. The video is very inspiring and well done. It made me let myself go and be carried along by the idealism and hope.

Unfortunately, my kids would like to point out that I also get sentimental listening to Scorpions’ “There’s No One Like You” , so  I may not be the best…

Posted in Badvocacy and celebs, Satire/ parodies | Also tagged , , 10 Comments

TWOFER: Here’s how Haitians can rescue the US from its budget crisis and save themselves

By William Easterly | Published February 10, 2010

In 2001, I published an obscure paper that concluded “Econometric tests and fiscal solvency accounting confirm the important role of growth in debt crises.” Based on this, I can now say that Haitians can rescue the US from an impending budget crisis. The crisis is already severe, with previously unthinkable warnings that US government bonds might lose their AAA rating.

What does this have to do with Haitians? Here’s the longer, more technical version…

Posted in Academic research, Migration | Also tagged , , , 16 Comments

Dropping Haiti’s debt = sending old shoes

By Guest Blogger | Published February 1, 2010

The following post is by David Roodman, a research fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD) in Washington, DC.

Last week my colleague Michael Clemens blogged in this space about the “The best way nobody’s talking about to help Haitians.” So as a complement, here’s what I think is the worst way that everybody’s talking about to help Haitians: cancelling Haiti’s debt.

I am not suggesting that Haiti’s foreign creditors should stick…

Posted in Aid policies and approaches, Disaster/ humanitarian aid | Also tagged , 9 Comments

Quake an opportunity for foreigners to “get Haiti right”? Aid “shock doctrine”?

By William Easterly | Published January 31, 2010

NEIL MacFARQUHAR in a good NYT story this morning  (self-promotion alert: I am quoted in the story) notes all the discussion that the quake is an opportunity to sort out all the problems of long-run Haitian development. But an opportunity for whom? Apparently for foreigners. The story mentions some of the proposals for foreign intervention:

Haiti should be temporarily taken over by an international organization

{Bill Clinton as} Haiti reconstruction czar.

“Is it too wild

…

Posted in Disaster/ humanitarian aid, In the news | Also tagged , , , , 16 Comments