CNE – Centro Para Una Nueva Economía – Center for a New Economy
Non-profit, economic research and policy development organization
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This week take a look at the Unemployment Compensation program in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FOMB’s certification of PREPA’s fiscal plan, and the importance of making data-based decisions when assessing risk and determining how and when to open industrial sectors.
Great uncertainty lies ahead for the 50 million Americans that have relied on emergency unemployment compensation to meet basic needs after unexpectedly losing their job due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the extra unemployment assistance is scheduled to end by July 31.
This week we take a look at how the economic austerity discourse has come to dominate the debate about municipal reform in Puerto Rico, peeling back the layers of the official narrative and explaining why it is necessary to change it. Also, with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging in the mainland, the team at CNE is wondering about how Puerto Rico is spending the $13.9 billion it has been allocated in federal funds to address the effects of the pandemic.
Luego de cuatro años de haberse aprobado la ley federal PROMESA, y cerca de quince años consecutivos de medidas de austeridad fiscal, nuestro vocabulario de la gestión pública ha adoptado conceptos y términos generalmente asociados con el sector empresarial. Desde entonces se procura “optimizar” recursos, mejorar la “eficiencia” en la prestación de servicios y alcanzar la “autosuficiencia” en las distintas dependencias públicas.
There has been a lot going on recently at the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (“PREPA”). This week we dedicate a special edition of the Weekly Review to highlight two recent transactions executed by PREPA that together could have a material adverse effect on Puerto Rico’s electricity sector.
Four years after the enactment of PROMESA, Puerto Rico still faces massive debt and economic challenges – now, further exacerbated by the 2017 hurricanes, the series of earthquakes that have rattled the island since December 2019, and most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Early on, the Center for a New Economy (CNE) warned the measures being considered by Congress would not address the underlying issues affecting the island.
This week we focus on two important issues for Puerto Rico. First, we take a look at recent court decisions holding that Congress cannot discriminate against the residents of Puerto Rico and Guam in the application of the Supplemental Security Income program. Second, we highlight some of the difficulties inherent to case tracking and contact tracing.
The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program is not available to residents of Puerto Rico, Guam or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Two recent court rulings have found this categorical exclusion of the residents of Puerto Rico and Guam to be unconstitutional. We take a closer look at the impact the SSI program could have for Puerto Rico’s residents and the potential economic benefits associated with it.
