From independence in 1804 until the US occupation in 1915, the quantity of official statistics on the Haitian economy is very limited. This is especially true of the demographic data. There have been a number of attempts to estimate foreign trade at different time periods, but none of these is a complete series. There have been even fewer attempts to estimate public revenue and expenditure.

The most comprehensive attempt to measure exports was made by Robert Rotberg, with the assistance of Christopher Clague (see Rotberg (1971)). This was a pioneering attempt and is still of some use. However, the series is not complete, and all volumes have been translated to values using US cif or wholesale prices. In addition, no attempt was made to reconcile the resulting estimates of the value of domestic exports with either previously published figures or with the value of imports from Haiti by the main trading partners. Because nearly fifty years have now passed since Rotberg's calculations were first made, it is time for a more comprehensive attempt at quantifying the Haitian economy before the US occupation, and this is what is attempted here.