CIAO DATE: 11/2011
October 2011
United States Institute of Peace
The longest war and one of the largest relief efforts in U.S. history—in Afghanistan and Haiti, respectively—are testing the cost-effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance in conflict-ravaged or disaster-torn countries. U.S.-led economic reconstruction in both countries is clearly off track and becoming increasingly costly and unpopular—both at home and in the respective countries. Reconstruction zones (RZs), consisting of two distinct but linked areas to ensure synergies between them—a local-production reconstruction zone (LRZ) producing for local consumption and an export-oriented reconstruction zone (ERZ) producing exclusively for export—could be used to replace the fragmented way aid is provided to these countries with an integrated strategy for economic reconstruction. With an appropriate legal and regulatory framework, ERZs—operating as free-trade zones—could create appropriate links to the national economy as well as positive externalities or spillovers. Such a framework would avoid the problems created by these zones operating as enclaves in Haiti in the past.
Resource link: Reconstruction Zones in Afghanistan and Haiti [PDF] - 254K