Haiti Needs Trade More Than Aid

The miseries of Haiti have been well chronicled in the past year, and the nation surely needs medical help and aid workers, writes Nicholas Kristof. But "ultimately what Haiti most needs isn’t so much aid, but trade," he writes in the New York Times. "Aid accounts for half of Haiti’s economy, and remittances for another quarter—and that’s a path to nowhere."

There's signs of hope: US trade preferences have created 6,000 garment factory jobs, and South Korean companies could create another 130,000 with planned factories. By all means, send in doctors and relief workers amid the cholera epidemic. And "let’s help educate Haitian children and improve the port so that it can become an exporter. But, above all, let’s send in business investors to create jobs." Or expect the cycle of misery to continue. (More Haiti stories.)