August 1998: Manufacturing Meltdown in PR:
Is there Life beyond 936?
Puerto Rico was given ten years to restructure its economy. With the phase out of Section 936 by year 2006, Puerto Rico worries that manufacturing, currently 41% of GDP, could pass into the hands of other, lower cost, emerging markets in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Though this may be true, major breakthroughs in biotechnology, MEMs, nanotechnology will begin to create entire new industries over the next ten years! Europe and the US are poised for further growth and sources of investment for PR and other countries. This issue addresses how PR could avoid a manufacturing meltdown and what instruments it must add to its development toolkit.
