Unlike government-imposed privileges, markets are impartial observers of value. Political connections are unnecessary for actors to succeed in the free market; only the willingness to employ one's talents to serve consumers will reap success.
We need more inequality, not less Read More »
One of the big problems we have in Puerto Rico is the worldview that the population has in relation to the functions of the state. We have become accustomed to seeing the government as the one that has to solve social problems, we justify its meddling in economic aspects and we even pay homage to politicians by treating them with certain airs of royalty.
Puerto Rico urgently needs a facilitating government and a decentralized economy Read More »
One of the fundamental rights in our democratic and free enterprise system is the property and the possibility of freely disposing of it. The property right allows the effort of the initiative, work and creativity of human beings to be retained and materialized in a good or proprietary interest that the citizen can keep using and take advantage of. When the owner of that property understands that he must dispose of that property, he can do so freely.
Law 52: the latest nonsense of the Puerto Rico legislature Read More »
The airport looked like something out of the 1950s: shabby hallways, a generic media outlet, a generic restaurant, and a few tacky souvenir shops. All that changed after San Juan's Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU) was privatized in 2013. Underlying problems were far more serious.
How Privatization Has Transformed San Juan’s Airport Read More »
What is going to happen, write it down, is that entrepreneurs, large or small; merchants who will be affected in one way or another, will pass the blow to the consumer. That is not talked about. The governor did not mention it in his "vibrant" speech when signing the law. But it is something that cannot be avoided. The increase in the mesada, in the Christmas bonus or whatever, is going to be paid by the consumers in the can of sausages.
Labor reform: thickening the bureaucracy Read More »
Instead of taking advantage of and promoting competition between the business sector, in order to ensure that they offer better compensation arrangements and employment conditions to attract the best available talent, the reform of the labor reform equalizes for all economic agents the basic costs of human capital, eliminating the aggressive competition that otherwise would have arisen.
The reform of the labor reform: blow to competitiveness Read More »
By 2017, Puerto Rico had fewer registered establishments than each of the 50 states, adjusting for population, implying a higher market concentration in Puerto Rico, on average, than in the United States. These market shares have historically been divided among no more than 4-5 major competitors. Firms in concentrated industries, due to little competition, may raise prices in the face of increases in their costs above what they would rise in a competitive market.
Market concentration: source of inflation at the local level? Read More »
Migration is used as a factor to assess the economic freedom of regions, states, and localities. When we investigated the inbound and outbound domestic migration trends of the US, from 2011 to 2019, we found that states and territories where economic freedoms were promoted had higher inbound migrations.
The states and territories, their domestic migration and the economic liberty Read More »
Faced with the failure of the State and with it the ability to finance populist measures, there is no other route than to build a society and an economy based on entrepreneurship and business initiative. Individual freedom and the promotion of self-effort as guiding principles of a new socioeconomic model supposes a complete reengineering of the prevailing thought during the second half of the 20th century and so far in the 21st century.
Entrepreneurship or populism: the two routes for Puerto Rico Read More »
For those of us who have spent years navigating the tortuous planning and permitting process on the Island, it is obvious that there are anti-development visions and forces, of government leadership and with little respect for the right to use and enjoy private property. This vision permeates multiple laws and regulations, including the Land Use Plan. The timidity of our rulers and the lack of a firm public policy for economic development, articulated and based on science, not on electoral fears or on social networks, permeates even the desks of the officials responsible for the evaluation and granting of permits.
Salinas, sad reflection of Puerto Rico Read More »
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