Sowing and Reaping Devastation in Haiti
The property-rights vacuum explains a lot.
Pictures and accounts of Haiti’s earthquake devastation remind me of a November, 1987 National Geographic photograph of Haiti. The latter was an aerial shot of Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic — the two nations “share” the Caribbean island Hispaniola. The photo showed a heavily forested Dominican Republic and a barren Haiti. The caption noted that Haiti was once heavily forested.
I bet some of you are thinking, “Oh no, here comes an ivory tower academic telling us that cutting trees down causes earthquakes. He’s probably a tenured geology professor who couldn’t make it in the real world.” Rest easy, I’m not offering earthquake theories, and while I’m tenured, I’m a professor of economics not geology.
My point is that Haitian land stripped of its trees and Haitian land covered with earthquake debris trace to a common cause. That cause is the dysfunctional state of Haitian private property rights. Dysfunctional is charitable — a property-rights vacuum is more apt. The vacuum promotes economic myopia among Haitians. Future benefits — from preserving trees to constructing longer-lived buildings — figure less importantly in economic calculations when the benefits’ recipients are uncertain.
Haiti’s heritage is not a good one. A brutally ruled, slave-centered colony, its independence brought a series of home-grown tyrants. Nevertheless, Haitians necessarily bear the responsibility for the state of Haitian property rights. If not the Haitians, who else, pray tell? Does that mean I’m “blaming the victims” of the landscape devastation for the devastation, be it land stripped of trees or land covered with earthquake debris, including thousands of bodies. Yes.
Haitians sowed devastations’ seeds by trashing private property rights. They reaped the consequences. Don’t forget that the Haitians’ Dominican neighbors didn’t strip their land, even though the Dominican Republic comes nowhere close to being a property-rights paradise. Likewise, earthquakes of Haitian-like intensity don’t necessarily kill tens of thousands — the 1994 southern California earthquake killed less than 100 people.
Not “Either/Or”
The state of property rights in a country is not an “either/or” proposition. Rather, it lies on a continuum, from very secure to very insecure. The Heritage Foundation regularly publishes an “Index of Economic Freedom,” which ranks nations based on several factors, including security of private property. In the 2010 Index the Dominican Republic ranked 86th (“moderately free”) and Haiti 141st (“mostly unfree”) out of 179 countries. (The United States is eighth and Hong Kong first).
The Dominican Republic and Haiti both rank below average on security of property rights. However, the Dominican Republic’s property-rights score is higher than Haiti’s, exceeding that of 41 other countries and tied with 34. Haiti, on the other hand, is near the bottom, exceeding only Burma, North Korea, and Zimbabwe and tied 12 other countries (including Cuba, Iran, and Libya).
Economist Hernando de Soto’s celebrated book, The Mystery of Capital, gives some specifics about the pathetic state of private property rights in Haiti. He estimates that 68 percent of Haitian city dwellers and 97 percent of their rural counterparts live in housing for which no one has clear legal title. No one, mind you, no one!
Tell me, if you were building a house for which you do not have legal title, how interested would you be to use your resources to build a more durable structure? Not very, I’m sure. Certainly less interested compared to if you had clear title to the structure. After all, you’re unsure about whether someone can come along and take away “your” house, and you’re unsure about your ability to sell the house in the future. The resulting shabby construction won’t cause earthquakes, but it’ll make earthquake-related damages more extensive. Even fatal.
This lack of property title in Haiti is not surprising, says de Soto. For Haitians to settle legally on government (!) land, they must first lease it from the government for 5 years. Finalizing a lease requires 65 bureaucratic steps, taking 2 years on average. Then things get worse! Subsequent purchase requires another 111 bureaucratic steps, taking 12 more years — nineteen years of red tape in a country where, to compound the problem, illiteracy is pervasive.
The 1987 National Geographic photograph was a predictor of the earthquake devastation we have witnessed. A people who have little incentive to delay cutting trees, and when they do cut, to replant new trees will also end up constructing buildings that crumble like a house of cards in the stress of an earthquake.
The larger lesson is that any effort to “rebuild” Haiti that doesn’t include eliminating this property-rights vacuum will be a case of throwing good money after bad, leaving seeds of future devastations waiting to germinate. An easy job? Forget it. International “do-gooders” with their quick-fixes need not apply.
Comment by Rich Demanowski on 8 February 2010:
Well said, sir!
Comment by Dave Nazarian on 15 February 2010:
The problem has been neatly identified by your analysis.
Would you venture a journey into the abyss of the solution, both acute and chronic? Make it in triplicate, so I can submit copies to our government, the Haitian government, and the Nobel Peace prize committee – giving you full attribution, of course.
The “vacuum” of the solution really exists between academic paralysis by analysis, and “rubber meets the road” political practicality.
Haitians (most) are doomed, as are “do-gooders” (all). The only difference being that the latter use other peoples’ money to feel good about themselves, while the former try to use other peoples’ money just to feel anything.
Comment by F.R. Duplantier on 15 February 2010:
American churches have poured billions of dollars into that hellhole over the last few decades — enough to make every Haitian a multimillionaire. Where has it all gone?
Comment by Jacob Steelman on 15 February 2010:
Whenever you find massive destruction – whether it be war, destruction of wealth or even natural disaster – you can rest assured government is the cause. Private individuals acting in their own self interest in a private society desire to improve and protect themselves and their family in order to live their life and accumulate wealth, not destroy their lives and wealth.
Comment by George Schwappach on 15 February 2010:
176 Bureaucratic steps taking 14 years to buy a house! I’m sure that EACH of those steps involves paying a bureaucrat for permission to move forward. I would love to read confirmation that those wild child stealing Baptists had failed to properly PAY for permission to take the orphans.
A true, government imposed tyranny. Why don’t Haitians just start cutting off the hands of those bureaucrats who stick those hands out?
It reminds me of the story, some 30 years ago, about how the newly invented internet would allow the IRS to continue operating after a nuclear war. Hey, I say we should paint targets on any government IRS worker who continues to operate after a nuclear war.
I am George, and some tyranny really pisses me off!
Pingback by Sowing and Reaping Devastation in Haiti « thak’s cool links on 15 February 2010:
[...] The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty » Sowing and Reaping Devastation in Haiti. Private property rights seem like they should be an afterthought, but they are a big deal–potentially have more of an affect on liberty, freedom, and life itself than anything else. [...]
Comment by Kevin on 16 February 2010:
2/15 out of the blue I typed the google search “discuss haitian property rights” for 3 reasons… ~to learn ~to confirm ~to find encouragement
1)My nephew just came back after spending 2 weeks in Leogane, basically THE epicenter. He attended medically. But on Google EARTH I had seen pictures of only LEOGANE, from 5 years ago up thru the quake. Resorts came and fell, large estates seemed to pop up and then be overtaken with blue tents. What I can only call large “shanty areas” with years of service simply became fully deserted in a matter of days! Other rural areas seemed to become a “suburbia” over those years, but with odd angles and random layouts.. SO I got the strong impression Real Property Is Not a big concern there! Were there property lines? Did anyone “own” anything?
2) If I was right about Haitian property (THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE ARTICLE) it underscores what is happening in my OC 92647 coastal propery association, where Property rights are being tested. Even here, there are Some association “owners” who also want exclusive use of the otherwise “common areas” in the association, where they Fenced it off for themselves, and Built illegal room additions! Of course the answer is enforce the CC&R’s, city and country rules etc. But to see the resistance to the enforcement is staggering. The ‘live and let live’ mentality of modern America has never been stronger, and yet they are basically encouraging property Anarchy. Our community is already deteriorating in numerous aspects. Haiti is just a better more extreme example of what building mayhem can result in ONCE noone has a Stake in the future of “the property”.
3) But this knowledge encourages me. I REITERATE: if everything is “borrowed” and nothing can be legitimately OWNED, then there is little reason to Build things to last, little reason to defend, maintain, invest, improve… or to quantify, to record, to enforce those records. I need to defend legitimate ownership more than ever. Haiti is what happens when you don’t. THANK YOU for your article.
PS: how to fix Haiti’s property laws? almost unfathomable.. in the US we promote letting everyone “OWN” and have a “stake” with little down, ie a mortgage. It sorta works.. but not even in the US sometimes… And that is with very manicured property lines and laws. Then again, “they” took over Paris and “Rebuilt” it, so dream big..
Comment by Vern Westgate on 16 February 2010:
Hi. You hit the nail on the head with logic and reason…rare in these times I fear.
I do some writing and editing for a website, http://www.freedomadvocates.org
Our core theme is the protection of property rights from which we derive our unalienable rights.
I would appreciate your permission to post your article on our website with any attribution you wish.
Our site’s founder is Michael Shaw, who is very active in this fight.
By the way, the UN conference in Rio in 1992 (I think) set Agenda 21 into action and it states that individual property rights are unworkable in meeting the goals for the world that Agenda 21 has set for the 21st Century.
Thanks for your good work.
Pingback by Liberty Reads for February 16, 2010 | Liberty Movement HQ on 16 February 2010:
[...] Sowing and Reaping Devastation in Haiti [...]
Comment by Christy on 17 February 2010:
Kevin –
You said: “.. in the US we promote letting everyone “OWN” and have a “stake” with little down, ie a mortgage. It sorta works.. but not even in the US sometimes…”
I think your quotes have identified the crux of the issue in the US. “Own” vs own. “Stake” vs stake. If someone else gives you money, and your only ‘stake’ is during the time it takes before they take it back (since you can’t live up to your obligation on it), then what stake do you really have in the property? Residents have reflected that attitude in their stewardship of the property they don’t really feel ownership of.
Mr. Van Cott –
Thank you for stating your case clearly. I continue to hope that this kind of reasoned discussion will ultimately persuade those who don’t seem to make the connection between rights and choices.
Pingback by Politickles » Blog Archive » Ignoring the Long-Term Problems in Haiti on 17 February 2010:
[...] Ignoring the Long-Term Problems in Haiti February 17, 2010, 2:12 pm The larger lesson is that any effort to “rebuild” Haiti that doesn’t include eliminating this property-rights vacuum will be a case of throwing good money after bad, leaving seeds of future devastations waiting to germinate. An easy job? Forget it. International “do-gooders” with their quick-fixes need not apply. – The Freeman [...]
Comment by Stuart Rankin on 19 February 2010:
As I was in Haiti during the earthquake, just outside of the epicenter, and witnessed the devastation firsthand, this article naturally peeked my interest.
In the larger picture of Haiti, well-established private property rights existing over time would produce a completely different economic scenario and healthier society – one with economic ability, not just incentive, to build better homes – homes that would have greatly reduced the massive earthquake devastation.
But in the meantime, most grass roots Haitians are living to make ends meet. While they would appreciate and benefit from the above picture of private property rights, in day-to-day life, grass root Haitians need the ability, and not just the incentive, to build better homes.
We have to remember that there is no middle-class in Haiti. Instead there exists a vast disparity between those who influence from the top down and most grass roots Haitians who are hard-working and good-natured, caught within a larger world of bondage, trying to make ends meets, while lacking in literacy and education.
Who pray tell? I think simply blaming all Haitians for this is a flat way of accounting for an entrapped nation in generational poverty and corrupt leadership. Certainly – the solution is to be found among the Haitians themselves. But the question is not so much, who pray tell?, but rather how pray tell? – How pray tell do the Haitians break out of this?
I agree it involves property rights. And government top down, whether internationally, or in Haiti, won’t find the solution. Maybe part of the solution comes with encouraging and getting behind those Haitians who have a vision for a changed nation – men and women with integrity and competence. Maybe it is encouraging investment programs such as micro financing (www.fondespwa.org for example), or in small, private ways of encouraging education, literacy, and entrepreneurship. But all that usually requires that people care beyond an intellectual interest or emotional response to a catastrophe.
Government attempts aside – could it be that when it comes to “fixing” problems, truly no man is an island unto himself? And in this case, Haiti even though shared with the Dominican Republic, is not an island unto itself? Just a thought.
Comment by Frank Yoder on 24 September 2010:
Update to your fascinating and insightful article, Mr. Van Cott:
http://lugar.senate.gov/issues/foreign/lac/haiti/pdf/investment.pdf
– a July report to the Committee on Foreign Relations. Entitled, “Without Reform, No Return on Investment in Haiti” this boots-on-the-ground research paper arrives at precisely your conclusion: property rights are the key. Closely followed by a stronger-willed Haitian government (e.g. President Preval). A good read.