Free Market

The Moral Argument as a Foundation of the Free Market: A Call to the Advocates of Economic Freedom in Puerto Rico

Rafael Bernabe's statements in Jacobin magazine that there is "fertile ground for anti-capitalist ideas to advance in Puerto Rico" exemplifies the inclusion of socialism in the Western political tradition.

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Ojel L. Rodríguez Burgos
May 17, 2023

The reforms that will save Puerto Rico

The preliminary costs of the bankruptcy, amounting to $1 billion so far, should be a powerful incentive for us to force structural reforms that will save Puerto Rico from a second bankruptcy and an economic cliff. It would be an act of collective folly to ignore the reasons that led us into the fiscal hole and to have become the first state government in the United States to file for bankruptcy.

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Gustavo Velez
March 23, 2023

Lessons from Messi and Di María for Politicians in LatAm and Europe

What can they learn about competition, free trade, poverty, regulation, and innovation on both sides of the Atlantic? Argentina's triumph in the World Cup organized by Qatar has given Lionel Messi the last trophy he was missing. Argentina's achievement has also left several lessons that can be extrapolated far beyond soccer. Here are three lessons that our politicians can learn from the world champions.

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Federico N. Fernández
December 27, 2022
Lessons from Messi and Di María for Politicians in LatAm and Europe

Joseph Stiglitz against the free market

But Stigliz condemns inequalities instead of realizing what a blessing they are; otherwise if all men liked the same woman or if they all wanted to be doctors and there were no tambourines, society would collapse. Even conversation would be unbearably tedious because it would be just like talking to the mirror. On the other hand, inequalities of income and wealth in a free society refer to rewards and punishments for serving or not serving the needs of others.

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Alberto Benegas, PhD
November 7, 2022

Sorry Jones Act Supporters, the Law Is Still a Bad Deal for Puerto Rico

The Jones Act has been hurting Puerto Rico for a long time. That’s the inevitable result of shipping protectionism that thwarts competition and requires the use of ships significantly more expensive to build and operate than their internationally‐​flagged counterparts.

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Colin Grabow
August 31, 2022

The Jones Act Is Forcing Puerto Rico to Overpay for Energy

That the Dominican Republic sources most of its fuel from the United States while Puerto Rico—a U.S. territory with American citizens—does not (and cannot in the case of bulk LPG and LNG) is an embarrassing absurdity. Such a distorted state of affairs can only be explained by misguided Jones Act protectionism. Let us hope the island can be exempted from this archaic law so it can make greater use of domestic products and realize much‐needed savings to meet its citizens’ energy needs.

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Colin Grabow
August 3, 2022

Populism and the economic failure of Puerto Rico

The governments in power (each one for a single four-year term) moved away from the possibility of promoting a long-term economic project and focused on managing the crisis within the political restrictions imposed by the four-year term. Politicians' addiction to taxes and debt to artificially keep the government apparatus alive cemented a narrative that government was essential at the expense of the productive sector. The government itself has created a dangerous spiral of economic contraction with higher taxes and spending.

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Gustavo Velez
July 27, 2022
Populism and the economic failure of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico urgently needs a facilitating government and a decentralized economy

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.

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Nilda Perez Martinez
July 14, 2022
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