Haiti vs. the Dominican Republic: Why the big divergence?

Haiti has been run by crooked thugs in a descending pyramid of power and control. All money was stolen and the population kept in poverty, and with no money they were unable to create a middle class = no industrial revolution from within. The ones in power built clothing factories and a few other. Overseers were cruel = wages and right low, the poor could not elevate up and out. The DR lacked these crooks and was able to elevate its people.

> The U.S. invaded and occupied Haiti for two decades, from 1915 through 1934.

It's amazing the things I don't remember learning in school. Somewhere between zero and "hardly any" time in my US history curriculum was devoted to describing the various US invasions and "banana wars" of the early 20th century. I wonder why that is - I certainly learned about other ugly aspects of American history.

This is a very interesting article. Two countries that are very similar (on the same island) show very different rates of development. The author analyzes a lot of different possible causes, but does not really try to push one of them as the final answer. The problem of why some countries develop much faster than others is an important question. Please read this article.