Economy

Haiti's Neo-Liberal Regime: The Making of an Outer Periphery

Haiti's Neo-Liberal Regime: The Making of an Outer Periphery discussion with Robert Fatton Jr.

Born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, now an American citizen, Fatton studied in the mid 1970s in France, later earning a Bachelors Degree from Goshen College, Indiana, in 1976. He holds Masters and Doctoral Degrees from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. He has been teaching at the University of Virginia since 1981.

Robert Fatton Jr. is currently the Associate Dean for Graduate Academic Programs in the Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia. He is also the Julia A. Cooper Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia. He has served as Chair of the Department of Politics from 1997 to 2004. He is the author of several books and a large number of scholarly articles. His publications include: Black Consciousness in South Africa (1986);The Making of a Liberal Democracy: Senegal's Passive Revolution, 1975-1985 (1987); Predatory Rule: State and Civil Society in Africa (1992); Haiti's Predatory Republic: The Unending Transition to Democracy (2002); and The Roots of Haitian Despotism (2007). He is also co-editor with R. K. Ramazani of The Future of Liberal Democracy: Thomas Jefferson and the Contemporary World (2004); and Religion, State, and Society(2009).

Neoliberalism is a political philosophy whose advocates support economic liberalization, free trade and open markets, privatization, deregulation, and decreasing the size of the public sector while increasing the role of the private sector in modern society.
Critics sometimes refer to neoliberalism as the "American Model," and make the claim that it promotes low wages and high inequality. According to the economists Howell and Diallo (2007), neoliberal policies have contributed to a U.S. economy in which 30% of workers earn low wages (less than two-thirds the median wage for full-time workers), and 35% of the labor force is underemployed; only 40% of the working-age population in the U.S. is adequately employed. The Center for Economic Policy Research's (CEPR) Dean Baker (2006) argued that the driving force behind rising inequality in the U.S. has been a series of deliberate, neoliberal policy choices including anti-inflationary bias, anti-unionism, and profiteering in the health industry.

Will foreign investment aid or exploit Haiti

The US has endorsed a new international business initiative for Haiti. But critics argue the park is little more than a glorified sweatshop. Is it venture helping or exploiting a desperate workforce? Guests: Kim Ives, Robert Maguire, Manolia Charlotin.