The Political Economy of Puerto Rico: Surplus Use and Class Structure

• Author: Ricardo R. Fuentes-Ramírez
• Date: 01 May 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X20912529
• Published date: 01 May 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X20912529

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 232, Vol. 47 No. 3, May 2020, 18–29

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X20912529

© 2020 Latin American Perspectives

18

The Political Economy of Puerto Rico

Surplus Use and Class Structure

by

Ricardo R. Fuentes-Ramírez

Assuming that the first claim on a society’s output is to meet the essential consumption

needs of its citizens, the remainder of its output, or surplus, can be conceptualized as

discretionary income that it may use in various ways. An analysis of the use of the surplus

in Puerto Rico suggests that most of the economic surplus remains within the island,

unproductively utilized by domestic capitalists. By redirecting this surplus to productive

investment, Puerto Rico could initiate a process of recovery. The task is developing the

political will to transfer this wealth from high-income Puerto Ricans and unproductive

sectors to a radical industrial policy initiative. Emphasizing that there are in fact alterna-

tives to austerity may facilitate social movements’ coalescing around this policy and thus

contribute to the development of the political conditions necessary for restoring growth

and development.

Asumiendo que el primer reclamo sobre la producción de una sociedad es satisfacer las

necesidades esenciales de consumo de sus ciudadanos, el resto de su producción, o exce-

dente, puede conceptualizarse como un ingreso discrecional que se puede usar de varias

maneras. Un análisis del uso del excedente en Puerto Rico sugiere que la mayor parte del

excedente económico permanece dentro de la isla, utilizada de manera improductiva por

los capitalistas nacionales. Al redirigir este excedente a la inversión productiva, Puerto

Rico podría iniciar un proceso de reactivación. La tarea es desarrollar la voluntad política

para transferir esta riqueza de puertorriqueños de altos ingresos y sectores improductivos

a una iniciativa de política industrial radical. Enfatizar que, de hecho, existen alternativas

a la austeridad puede facilitar que los movimientos sociales se aglutinan en torno a esta

política y contribuir así al desarrollo de las condiciones políticas necesarias para restaurar

el crecimiento y el desarrollo.

Keywords: Puerto Rico, Surplus, Class, Imperialism, Social movements

Outside the mainstream media and political discourse, analysts of the Puerto

Rican economic crisis can be divided into two broad categories: the non-neo-

classical economists, who have focused on the diverse reasons for the Puerto

Rican government’s failures in past and current economic policy (e.g., Dietz,

2003; Irizarry Mora, 2011; Villamil, 1976; Weisskoff, 1985), and the antisystemic

movements on the island (pro-independence and socialist), which have focused

on colonial status as a straitjacket that has left Puerto Rico without the neces-

Ricardo R. Fuentes-Ramírez is an associate professor of economics in the Graduate Business

School at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico. His teaching and research interests

include worker cooperatives and economic development.

912529LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X20912529Latin American PerspectivesFuentes-Ramírez / Political Economy of Puerto Rico

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