The Colonial Economic Legacy

Understanding today's economy requires examining yesterday's structures:

The Plantation Model's Long Shadow

For three centuries, these islands functioned as extraction machines: - Monoculture for export (sugar, bananas, coffee) - Wealth flowing to Europe - Local consumption dependent on imports - Infrastructure designed for export, not internal development

"We were never meant to be economies," explains economist Dr. Fred Célimène. "We were factories. When slavery ended, when sugar profits fell, no one redesigned the system. We still export raw materials, import finished goods, depend on France for survival."

Departmentalization's Double Edge

The 1946 transformation into French departments brought benefits and burdens:

Benefits: - French social security system - Infrastructure investment - Educational access - EU membership (until recently)

Burdens: - Prices aligned with French salaries, not Caribbean realities - Local production unable to compete with subsidized imports - Youth exodus to mainland France - Psychological dependency

"We have First World prices with Third World salaries," summarizes union leader José Paulin. "A teacher here earns the same as in Paris, but most people aren't teachers. They're informal workers invisible to French statistics."