Foreword

Haiti has suffered a series of recent misfortunes: hurricanes, an earthquake, cholera and a discredited election. Unsurprisingly, people tend to lose sight of more hopeful developments. Yet, on the day I write this Foreword (11 January 2011), The Wall Street Journal is running a story on how Haiti has attracted a major investment from Korea: the world’s leading garment firm will establish a factory that will directly employ 20,000 people. By far the most difficult investment to attract is the first: firms reduce their costs by clustering together. Now that one garment firm has invested, others will face lower costs and so are likely to follow. Hence, the initial 20,000 jobs are likely to be multiplied. Further, each job in the garment industry will create indirect employment as workers spend their income locally. And each job can support a family. This is the sort of success that Haiti needs to transform its society from poverty and despair: waged jobs provide dignity, structure and income for ordinary families.

Related Subject(s): Economic and Social Development