Does Colonial Institutional Legacy Fully Explain Why Nations Fail? Theoretical and Empirical Confrontations Using the Case of Haiti

Abstract

Economic history is mobilized by neo-institutionalists to explain the different paths to development observed in post-colonial countries. Acemoglu and Robinson have considered Haiti as an archetype of colonial institutional legacy to describe why Nations fail. Is this deterministic lecture sufficient to understand the troubled development journey of the first free Black Country? In this research, we show, with empirical and historical evidence, that institutional path-dependence theory is not the best analytical framework for the case of Haiti. Critical juncture theory appears to be more appropriate to capture what is really going on in neocolonial Haiti. We also contribute to the critical juncture theory with long-term historical evidence.

Keywords:

• Institutional path dependence
• critical juncture
• institutions
• Haiti

Jel classification:

• B15
• B52
• N36
• O17
• O54

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Alin Louis Hall, 2016, ‘Requiem pour la société coloniale sans sanction’, Quotidien Le Nouvelliste. https://lenouvelliste.com/public/index.php/article/165517/requiem-pour-la-societe-coloniale-sans-sanction.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bénédique Paul

Bénédique Paul is an institutional economist. He contributed to the theorizing of institutional capital. He is currently full professor of economics and management at the faculty of agricultural and environmental sciences, at Quisqueya University. His research interests are economics, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Daniil Storchevoi

Daniil Storchevoi is a student in economics at the Faculty of Global Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University. His research focuses on international political economy, institutional economics and international relations.