Which Caribbean country has had the most macroeconomic success in recent years?

Question

Is it the Dominican Republic? Also..why has Puerto Rico's economy stalled despite being US territory? Thanks

Answer 1

I believe its the Dominican Republic.  Since the 1990s it has experience considerable growth rates (except for a recession in the early 200s when fraud caused the Baninter Bank to collapse).  Recently it's been averaging near 10% growth rates per year, which is impressive especially for Latin America and its GDP per capita (ppp) of almost $10,000 puts it among the upper quarter of Latin American countries.  People attribute this success to increased foreign investments, real estate and construction boom, tourism, and remittances from Dominicans in the US.  It is important to remember though that a very large sector of the Dominican population still lives in poverty and I'm not sure how much of this macroeconomic growth has trickled down to the lower sectors of society.  

Following the establishment of the ELA (estado libre asociado) in Puerto Rico the island experienced a lot of growth due to policies implemented by the Luis Mun~os Marin government and his successors which created tax incentives for US companies to invest in Puerto Rico.  Thus PR saw a shift from agriculture to industry and manufacturing during those years.  However the economy of PR has now become stagnant as they have had to compete with other areas of the world where cheaper labor is available.  PR is subject to US minimum wage laws.  A lot of US owned industries have moved to other parts of Latin America and Asia.  Many Puerto Ricans I know have told me that Puerto Ricans graduating college in Puerto Rico in engineering fields have had to search for jobs outside of Puerto Rico.  In spite of this, Puerto Ricans still enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the Caribbean and Latin America and a GDP per capita (ppp) of about $20,000.