Recovery of the Puerto Rico economy in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria means not only rebuilding the public and private infrastructure, supply chains, human capital, and other contributors to economic output but also reversing negative economic trends that existed and presented major challenges to growth even before the storms hit. In their report, the authors explain the history of economic development and policy in Puerto Rico and discuss the state of the prestorm economy, including key economic challenges. They use the historical data on overall economic activity (unrelated to the hurricanes) to construct a counterfactual to assess the net causal effect of Hurricanes Irma and Maria on Puerto Rico's economy. The counterfactual examines what would have happened to employment, labor, population, and tourism, as well as the government of Puerto Rico's fiscal position, had the hurricanes not occurred. Observed economic indicators following the storms are then compared to this counterfactual to estimate the real net economic consequences of the hurricanes, including overall damage from the storms and the effect of the recovery effort. The analysis provides considerable detail on the conditions in Puerto Rico before and after the 2017 hurricane season so that decisionmakers can adopt better policies in rebuilding a sustainable and healthy economic sector and, more broadly, the whole of Puerto Rico. The authors recommend a set of principles based on economic theory and provide courses of action included in the recovery plan compiled from their findings about prestorm conditions and trends and the input/observations of on-the-ground partners and stakeholders in the recovery effort. Book jacket.

A Brookings Institution Press and the Center for the New Economy publication A non-incorporated territory of the United States, Puerto Rico operates under U.S. legal, monetary, security and tariff systems. Despite sharing in these and other key U.S. institutions, Puerto Rico has experienced economic stagnation and large scale unemployment since the 1970s. The island's living standards are low by U.S. standards, with a per capita income only half that of Mississippi, the poorest state. While many studies have analyzed the fiscal implications of Puerto Rico's political relationship with the United States, little research has focused broadly on the island's economic experience or assessed its growth prospects. In this innovative new book, economists from U.S. and Puerto Rican institutions address a range of major policy issues affecting the island's economic development. To frame the current situation, the contributors begin by assessing Puerto Rico's past experience with various growth policies. They then analyze several reforms and new initiatives in labor, education, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, migration, trade, and financing development, which they incorporate into a proposed strategy for jumpstarting Puerto Rican economic growth. Contributors include Gary Burtless (Brookings Institution); Orlando Sotomayor, Luis Rivera-Batiz, Ramón Cao, Maria Enchautegui, José Joaquín Villamil, Eileen Segarra, Marinés Aponte, and Juan Lara (University of Puerto Rico); Richard Freeman and Robert Lawrence (Harvard University); Helen Ladd (Duke University); Francisco Rivera-Batiz (Columbia University); Steven Davis and Bruce Meyer (University of Chicago); James Alm (Georgia State University); Ingo Walter, Rita Maldonado-Bear, and William Baumol (New York University); Belinda Reyes (University of California, Merced); Alan Krueger (Princeton University); Carlos Santiago (University of Wisconsin); David Audretsch (Indiana University); Ronald Fisher (Michigan State University); Fuat Andic (UN Advisor); Arturo Estrella (NY Federal Reserve); James Hanson and Daniel Lederman (World Bank); James Dietz (University of California, Fullerton); and Katherine Terrell (University of Michigan).

This book expresses the reasons to embark on a production management system and begin a journey to a better social and economic life in Puerto Rico. Among the population of Puerto Rico there is a simultaneous presence of a high rate of unemployment and a well-educated workforce. How has this happened? How could the country overcome this economic situation and return to a path of sustainable economic growth in the short and long term? The study here presented introduces an objective and scientific input on these economic issues that are impacting the Puerto Rican society. Achieve greater economic and social welfare in a geographic area is based on increasing individual productivity that workers and employees can unfold in different workplaces, business and industries. The increase in productivity of the economy of Puerto Rico requires both individual effort and enterprise work.

"The Challenge of Puerto Rico" is an account of a long-running question that remains unanswered despite several referenda and a string of island-wide elections: What should Puerto Rico be ? a state, a rather unique commonwealth, some kind of associated state (with what rights and privileges?), or an independent entity? This report provides a series of answers, both in the opening essay and in the edited summary of discussions of a fascinating meeting in Washington.

Latin America has long held an important role in international economics and continues to attract attention as the region faces restructuration and implements new business conceptions. As a result, Latin America continues to experience economic growth, which further affirms the region’s great potential for future business endeavors. Business Development Opportunities and Market Entry Challenges in Latin America provides a practical, in-depth look at the different challenges and opportunities present in the Latin American economy. This text is of use to policymakers, managers, academicians, researchers, advanced-level students, technology developers, and government officials in furthering their research exposure to pertinent topics in market entry and business development in the region. This publication guides the reader to an understanding of the Latin American region both theoretically and practically through a collection of chapters concerning microfinance, political trust, opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurial activity, public-private academic cooperation, and poverty in Latin America.

This is a comprehensive and detailed account of the economichistory of Puerto Rico from the period of Spanish colonial dominationto the present. Interweaving findings of the "new" Puerto Ricanhistoriography with those of earlier historical studies, and usingthe most recent theoretical concepts to interpret them, James Dietzexamines the complex manner in which productive and class relationswithin Puerto Rico have interacted with changes in its placein the world economy.Besides including aggregate data on Puerto Rico's economy, theauthor offers valuable information on workers' living conditionsand women workers, plus new interpretations of development sinceOperation Bootstrap. His evaluation of the island's export-orientedeconomy has implications for many other developing countries.