Street Vendors Do Not Disobey: They Obey Hotelling, Salop, and Krugman

How three fundamental economic models explain the systematic failure of urban evictions in Haiti—and why repression cannot defeat an equilibrium.

Réginald Surin
02 Mar 2026 — Lecture : 16 min.
Street Vendors Do Not Disobey: They Obey Hotelling, Salop, and Krugman

Des vendeurs de produits alimentaires dans les rues de la capitale haïtienne

For the past three to four weeks, operations to clear street vendors have resumed with renewed intensity in Delmas and Pétion-Ville. This article shows, through three economic models established over the past century, that these operations will fail as they have always failed. Not for lack of political will, but because they address none of the real causes of the phenomenon. It then proposes five measures that would instead act on the correct parameters.

What everyone sees—and what no one explains

For three t

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