Export processing zones: The purported glimmer in Haiti's development murk

Bilateral and multilateral donors have made poverty reduction a principal goal of their aid interventions in Haiti. At the same time donors continue to promote an outward looking development strategy based on ideological adherence to neoliberal precepts. Due to its acute dependence on aid, Haiti's government must therefore design an economic development plan which satisfies the renewed poverty reduction imperative but which is not at variance with processes of globalization and neoliberal market rules. Donors are supporting one economic development strategy which they believe fits the bill: the reactivation of the country's export processing zones (EPZs). This article considers Haiti's past experience with EPZs as well as the model's impact on the region as a whole, in order to show it is unlikely to decrease poverty in any significant way or alleviate the country's socioeconomic inequalities. The Haiti case also highlights a disturbing state of affairs: it is the governments of the poorest countries that have the least number of policy tools and options available to combat misery and destitution. The renewed poverty reduction consensus does not alter this stark reality.