Those are good questions. I defer to some theories aired on the MarginalRevolution blog -- none definitive, some quite arguable, but most plausible enough to consider:<p><a href="http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/01/why-is-haiti-so-poor.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/01...</a><p>And an essay on the topic also relayed via that blog:<p><a href="http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/misctopic/leftover/whypoor.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/misctopic/leftover/wh...</a>