Arrested Development? Puerto Rico in an American Century

I consider Puerto Rican growth over the course of the twentieth century. Using a new GDP index, I show that modern economic growth for Puerto Rico begins with American rule. From 1900 to 1940, Puerto Rico does well relative to Latin America and Europe. Puerto Rico escaped the worst ravages of the great depression because of its access to the protected US markets for sugar and textiles and because of large federal transfers. The New Deal led to a fundamental divergence between living stands, as measured by consumption, and productivity as measured by Gross National Income (GNI). The literature concentrates on productivity where performance is mediocre. This is misleading as by 1975 Puerto Rico had achieved close to the highest living standard, as measured by consumption, among Spanish speaking societies.