Haiti From Independence to US Occupation

"In the end Haiti was undone by a combination of imperialist intrigue by the United States, abusive behaviour by the core and an economic model that was too dependent on coffee and customs duties."

Victor Thomas-Bulmer's "Haiti From Independence to US Occupation" is a worthwhile read on Haitian economic history from independence to 1915. His work demolishes some of the silly myths for understanding Haitian economic underdevelopment by placing Haiti into a broader Caribbean and Latin American framework as well as discussing foreign merchant communities and imperialist core powers intervening in Haitian affairs. Foreigners had multiple ways of maneuvering around laws prohibiting foreign ownership, Haiti was actually paying debts on a consistent basis, and yes, political instability and poor governance played a role, but the economic impact of the political instability was usually limited and the extent to which the foreign community fomented or contributed to Haiti's economic troubles does not get acknowledged. In the end, Haitian economic underdevelopment is a result of both internal and external factors, which Thomas-Bulmer's work defends. Moreover, for most of the 19th century, Haiti's economic output was not as abysmal or horrific as one would think, actually faring quite well if one excludes Cuba from the Caribbean average. It seems that only by the 1890s and assuredy by 1910 that Haiti can be seen as "lagging" by many indicators in comparison to Latin America, the Dominican Republic, and the Caribbean. Even then, some argue that Haiti's economic stability and 'vibrance' lasted into the 1930s, when the Dominican Republic began to surpass Haiti in terms of revenue (Bernardo Vega discusses this here) and only in terms of education and other indicators did the Dominican Republic began to pass Haiti only in the 1950s and 1960s (read).