The hundreds of millions of dollars that have poured into Haiti through international aid groups since the devastating January 2010 earthquake have done little to secure the country’s economic future, according to a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

Mary Anastasia O’Grady, a member of the paper’s editorial board, cites the World Bank’s 2013 “Doing Business” report, which rates Haiti near the bottom among 185 countries in fostering entrepreneurship and small businesses and protecting investors, among other economic criteria. In some categories, the country lost ground from the previous year.

Haiti’s status as “the republic of NGO’s,” reliant on aid, “distorts both politics and commerce. … Free resources reduce the pressure on politicians to make the reforms necessary to attract capital. When food and services are given away, entrepreneurs who might serve those markets are shut out.”