CNE – Centro Para Una Nueva Economía – Center for a New Economy
Non-profit, economic research and policy development organization
Fifteen months into LUMA’s operation of the grid, we evaluate where the PREPA-LUMA agreement stands and analyze the government’s options for terminating or enforcing it. We also explain why lower electricity bills depend on large-scale renewables.
We analyze the USDA’s 2022 study on implementing SNAP in Puerto Rico. SNAP would raise funding to about $4.5 billion by FY2031, increase beneficiaries by 9–12% and nearly double some benefits, though implementation costs and work requirements pose challenges.
Policy Director Sergio M. Marxuach joins a Brookings Institution panel on Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy and the lessons it holds for the island and the municipal bond market, alongside Natalie Jaresko and David Skeel.
After 15 years of stagnation, bankruptcy, hurricanes, earthquakes and the pandemic, Puerto Rico has a once-in-a-generation chance to turn its economy around. We assess the favorable trends, the risks and why the island needs a comprehensive economic strategy.
Puerto Rico’s tax system is burdensome, inequitable and inefficient. We set out seven principles for comprehensive reform, from broadening the base and lowering marginal rates to simplifying the code and adding green taxes.
With the PREPA RSA terminated, the third failed attempt to restructure its debt, we review where the process stands. We offer five recommendations for evaluating any new proposal, from cutting at least $8 billion in debt to avoiding rate increases that would hurt the economy.
We review the Fiscal Plan for FY2022, certified after the Plan of Adjustment cut Puerto Rico’s debt by about 48%. Thin projected surpluses leave little margin, Medicaid funding remains insecure, and the UPR’s 48% budget cut is disproportionate.
In testimony to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, we document how FEMA and HUD delayed Hurricane Maria aid to Puerto Rico through unprecedented conditions and reviews. Whatever the intent, the effects were discriminatory.
