Articles

Most economic research has documented a rise in income inequality over the past several decades, with divergent labor earnings being a key driver. Several explanations have been proposed, including changes in the relative demand for skills, the weakening of unions, reductions in the real value of the minimum wage, changes in progressive taxation, and alternative employment arrangements such as performance-based pay and independent contracting.

I begin this column with a painful illusion: if only the Government of Puerto Rico truly cared about the well-being of its people.

SB6 in Puerto Rico awaits Jenniffer González-Colón’s signature. The bill would implement a weak form of universal recognition on the island, requiring licensing boards to recognize licenses from US states that are deemed to be “substantially similar.” See my previous post on universal recognition for additional information.

We examine how the limited portability of occupational licenses across states affects interstate migrants' labor market outcomes. To address selection into migration, we focus on female workers with family ties.

Milei won the presidency in November last year and prompted concern from some in the West that he would lead his country down a road to ruin with libertarian policies that would make an already troubled economy even weaker. Voters wanted economic relief from a market hit with some of the highest inflation in the world.

Governor Jenniffer González Colón has the opportunity to sign into law a licensing reciprocity bill—almost identical to ones adopted by at least 26 states over roughly the past decade—that would allow anyone with a license in the continental US to apply for the same occupational license if they move to the island. That would allow them to skip duplicative training and avoid retaking the same exams they’ve already passed. This bill applies to over 130 occupations, covering the gamut from physicians and nurses to electricians and cosmetologists.

More than 20% of U.S. workers need a government-approved occupational license to do their job. Obtaining a license often requires hundreds of hours of classes and hundreds of dollars in fees. And until recently, a license earned in one state was rarely recognized in another, meaning workers had to go through the entire process again if they moved across state lines.

Once again, our political class anticipates that when the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) leaves, it won't take long for us to fall back into financial deficit and go backward again. Something that would surprise?

Puerto Rico produces goods the world would want. From the coffee grown on our farms to industrial services, cultural products, textiles, and emerging technologies, our entrepreneurs have shown creativity, discipline, and vision.

Ten years ago, on February 25, the Supreme Court of the United States reminded us that maybe the Sherman Antitrust Act, the federal statute passed in 1890 intended to enforce and increase market competition, should be aimed at the only lasting anti-competitive force in the modern market economy: the government itself.