ABSTRACT
International support has focused primarily on political developments as the first step toward arresting the flow of people from rural Haiti. Unless economic conditions for Haiti's vast majority reverse the economic decline that began with the worldwide recession of 1980, people will continue to leave Haiti. Increasing the reliance of the already heavily dependent Haitians on Haitian-American remittances provides individual household assistance in the short run. If the economic conditions of Haiti's vast majority do not improve, Haitians will continue to migrate internally and to the United States. Although the incomes of Haitians relative to Haitian Americans can also cause emigration from Haiti to the United States, increasing the purchasing power of most people in Haiti is more important than a relative increase. Those Haitians who leave and become Haitian Americans are not among the poorest in the United States.
