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Puerto Rico

Independence, Industrial Policy, and Growth

Luis Gautier

Puerto Rico is experiencing its deepest economic crisis since the first half of the twentieth century. The unique political and economic relationship between the US and Puerto Rico arguably plays a fundamental role in this crisis. With these in mind and given the imposition of the Financial Oversight Management Board by the US government, this book presents policy recommendations to help Puerto Rico achieve sustainable development. A set of partial equilibrium models are employed to study important industrial policy options and trade issues. This book also discusses the potential role of market-based environmental policies as well as issues of income convergence. The method of analysis to study the Puerto Rico–US relationship presented in this book is entirely new to the literature and the analysis of market-based environmental policy. The overarching result is that it is in the best interest of Puerto Rico and the US to set economic policies consistent with an equilibrium characterized by political independence (i.e., national sovereignty) for Puerto Rico. The potential for sustainable economic growth and development is latent in Puerto Rico’s economy. But for factors of production to be used effectively and efficiently, Puerto Rico’s economy requires access to international markets at sufficiently lower transaction costs, a condition consistent primarily in an equilibrium characterized by political independence. Access to international markets at sufficiently lower costs would help, inter alia, restore market credibility, regain access to credit markets at bearable costs and achieve important efficiency gains. This book argues that international trade ought to be at the center of development and growth policy. Importantly, it argues on the grounds of efficiency that not only is it in the best interest of the US to help Puerto Rico move gradually towards an equilibrium consistent with political independence, but that a statehood-like equilibrium is inefficient, particularly if a higher degree of access to global markets is at the center of policy formulation. I hope the discussion presented in this book signifies an important contribution to the policy debate in order to address Puerto Rico’s economic challenges.

Lexington Books

Pages: 142 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4985-5683-5 • Hardback • December 2017 • $94.00 • (£72.00)

978-1-4985-5684-2 • eBook • December 2017 • $89.00 • (£68.00)

Subjects: Business & Economics / Public Finance, Political Science / Public Policy / Economic Policy

Puerto Rico

Independence, Industrial Policy, and Growth

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Puerto Rico is experiencing its deepest economic crisis since the first half of the twentieth century. The unique political and economic relationship between the US and Puerto Rico arguably plays a fundamental role in this crisis. With these in mind and given the imposition of the Financial Oversight Management Board by the US government, this book presents policy recommendations to help Puerto Rico achieve sustainable development. A set of partial equilibrium models are employed to study important industrial policy options and trade issues. This book also discusses the potential role of market-based environmental policies as well as issues of income convergence. The method of analysis to study the Puerto Rico–US relationship presented in this book is entirely new to the literature and the analysis of market-based environmental policy. The overarching result is that it is in the best interest of Puerto Rico and the US to set economic policies consistent with an equilibrium characterized by political independence (i.e., national sovereignty) for Puerto Rico. The potential for sustainable economic growth and development is latent in Puerto Rico’s economy. But for factors of production to be used effectively and efficiently, Puerto Rico’s economy requires access to international markets at sufficiently lower transaction costs, a condition consistent primarily in an equilibrium characterized by political independence. Access to international markets at sufficiently lower costs would help, inter alia, restore market credibility, regain access to credit markets at bearable costs and achieve important efficiency gains. This book argues that international trade ought to be at the center of development and growth policy. Importantly, it argues on the grounds of efficiency that not only is it in the best interest of the US to help Puerto Rico move gradually towards an equilibrium consistent with political independence, but that a statehood-like equilibrium is inefficient, particularly if a higher degree of access to global markets is at the center of policy formulation. I hope the discussion presented in this book signifies an important contribution to the policy debate in order to address Puerto Rico’s economic challenges.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 142 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4985-5683-5 • Hardback • December 2017 • $94.00 • (£72.00)

978-1-4985-5684-2 • eBook • December 2017 • $89.00 • (£68.00)

Subjects: Business & Economics / Public Finance, Political Science / Public Policy / Economic Policy

Author

Luis Gautier is assistant professor of economics at the University of Texas at Tyler.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Preface
Chapter 1: Trade and Independence for Economic Development
Chapter 2: Market Potential and International Trade
Chapter 3: Foreign Direct Investment Under Fiscal Interdependence When Policy Is Set Unilaterally
Chapter 4: Unilateral Policy and Foreign Competition
Chapter 5: Lobbying in the Presence of Foreign Competition
Chapter 6: Developing Domestic Industry and Jobs: The Role of the Local Content Requirement
Chapter 7: Income Convergence and Sustained Growth: A Comment
Chapter 8: Market-based Environmental Policy in Puerto Rico
Appendix
References

Reviews

Gautier offers a very serious investigation about the best way forward for Puerto Rico’s economic development and for the restoration of growth. This book will be of great use for scholars, policy makers, and business leaders trying to understand Puerto Rico’s economic predicament.
— New West Indian Guide

The promising growth in incomes that Puerto Ricans experienced after the initial surge of industrialization in the 1950s did not persist. Instead, the economy has languished within the constraints of being not-quite part of the U.S., but not autonomous either. Luis Gautier makes a strong case for a more outward-looking, trade-based focus for the future. His argument relies on economic theory and theoretical arguments, bolstered by empirical evidence, something too often missing in studies of the Puerto Rican dilemma. Further, Professor Gautier’s corollary rationale for political independence is founded on the conclusions of his economic analysis, which suggest that more robust trade-based growth is only possible with greater autonomy from the U.S.
— James L. Dietz, California State University, Fullerton

Puerto Rico

Independence, Industrial Policy, and Growth

Luis Gautier

Puerto Rico

Independence, Industrial Policy, and Growth

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