Explaining Economic Performance in the Haitian Economy

Abstract

This paper develops a methodology to ascertain the determinants of growth in the Haitian economy. The methodology uses co-integration to identify those variables that can help explain economic activity, measured through GDP. This idea, pioneered by Hamilton and Perez- Quiros (1996), has the advantage of allowing for a smaller data set than the ones used by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). The results of this paper show that external and financial variables can provide Haitian policymakers with a good signaling device of the true performance of the economy. These variables are available before GDP, allowing policymakers to take preemptive measures to improve performance of the economy.Granger causality, co-integration, economic growth