Comparative Economies of Hispaniola: Haiti and Dominican Republic

1206 Words3 Pages

Matt Haji-Sheikh
Professor Alsalman
April 7th 2017
Macro Econ Section 12248.201710

Case Study Hispaniola, Spanish La Española, second largest island of the West Indies, lying within the Greater Antilles, in the Caribbean Sea. It is divided politically into the Republic of Haiti (west) and the Dominican Republic (east). The island’s area is 29,418 square miles, roughly ⅝ of the island belongs to the Dominican Republic while the other ⅜ belongs to Haiti. However, they both have roughly 10 million people as well as vastly different economic production. There are a lot of factors that are pretty easy to determine why Haiti’s economy has struggled much more than the Dominican Republic despite sharing the same island. The first figure that sticks out the most is the large difference in their GDP per capita. GDP per capita is the is a measure of average income per person in a …show more content…

In 1960 Haiti and the DR had the same real GDP per capita at a shade below $800. Now the DR is one of Latin America's fastest growing economies reporting a 7% growth in GDP in 2015. So why did the DR’s economy take the leap that Haiti did not? The DR’s growth can be attributed by an increase in tourist arrivals, rising foreign remittances, and low oil prices as the main factors of growth in the economy. Their tourism industry is thriving and supplying the country with thousands of jobs. The DR was the most visited Caribbean country in 2016 with about 6 million visitors. They also have 40% of the land covered in forest which provides their agricultural sector with good topsoil for their farming. They primarily export sugar, coffee and tobacco. They rely on the USA as a main export destination for their crops making up 7% of their annual GDP. The diversification of their economy and the development of their social service sector provide the DR’s economy with an advantage over

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