Adjustment assistance
Haiti's balance sheet of gains and losses in agriculture is extremely one-sided.
Given the
predictable nature of the losses, it is reasonable to assume that policymakers gave some
thought to the issue of adjustment assistance for farmers who would be negatively impacted.
The `winners and losers' problem is one that is broadly recognised, and economists generally
propose compensation for losers from trade liberalisation: actors such as the World Bank,
while quick to promote liberalisation, also recognise that policymakers should `put workable
social protection measures in place' to protect individuals from losses.
101
So in theory Haiti's poor farmers who lost market share and saw their incomes fall should
have been compensated through a specific assistance programme.
Such a programme would
have aided their transition to more competitive agricultural sectors.
In practice, however, it
seems that there was not even a discussion on adjustment assistance.
It is never going to be easy to compensate the losers from trade liberalisation in a developing
country.
It is hard enough to identify all the losers and quantify the appropriate compensation
but for a developing country like Haiti, with no social safety nets and barely existent tax
mechanisms, the problem is of a much greater magnitude.
Even if there had been an intention
to compensate the losers it would have been difficult to do so in the context of zero or
negative net gains from liberalisation.
In this case adjustment assistance was simply ignored: there were no attempts to accompany
farmers through a transition period, or to compensate the social costs.
This certainly
demonstrates a cavalier attitude towards the livelihoods of poor people.
Posted by Lionne on 4/24/08 7:33 PM
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