Justin Fox, Columnist

Puerto Rico's Economic Disaster Was Made in Washington

A tax break for U.S. corporations was meant to help the island. It may have done the opposite.

October 5, 2017 at 3:44 PM UTC

Justin Fox is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business, economics and other topics involving charts. A former editorial director of the Harvard Business Review, he is author of “The Myth of the Rational Market.”

Head winds.
Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

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Before it was devastated by Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico was already in lots of economic trouble. In recent discussions of the territory's woes, mismanagement by its political leaders and intransigence from its creditors have gotten most of the blame.

QuickTake Puerto Rico's Debt