As the Economy Falls Apart, Violence Escalates

What the numbers reveal (and do not reveal) about the link between economic crisis and crime in Haiti.

Réginald Surin
12 Feb 2026 — Lecture : 9 min.
As the Economy Falls Apart, Violence Escalates

La route nationale numéro 2, au niveau de Martissant, le tronçon est désert à cause de la violence instauré depuis des années par les gangs armés
Photo : inconnu

By Réginald Surin, Economist
February 2026

There are realities we know instinctively even before we measure them. Every Haitian knows that misery fuels violence. But between knowing and demonstrating lies the space of rigor. This study seeks to occupy that space. By submitting 17 years of data (2007–2023) to six econometric models, it quantifies what many suspect: Haiti’s economic collapse and the explosion of its violence are not two parallel crises. They are linked. And this measurement carries within it

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