Editor’s Note: The following is an abstract of the article that can be found in the CENTRO Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, SPECIAL ISSUE Post-Disaster Recovery in Puerto Rico and Local Participation
Entrepreneurial Dynamics in Puerto Rico Before and After Hurricane María
Marinés Aponte, Professor, Business Administration Department at Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras
Manuel Lobato, Professor, College of Business Administration, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
Marta Álvarez, Professor, Institute of Statistics and Computer Information Systems, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
Entrepreneurship is crucial for the future of Puerto Rico. Hurricane María hit the Island on September 2017, in the midst of a long recession, a period of employment loss and very low rates of new business creation. This paper studies the effect of the Hurricane on the entrepreneurial activity of the island by comparing important entrepreneurial indicators before and after the event. The research is based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and the Puerto Rico Community Survey. The immediate effect of the hurricane and its aftermath was unusually high levels of closings of establishments and employment contraction. After the first impact, this dynamic was combined with a sudden increase of new entrepreneurial initiatives, as entrepreneurs identified business opportunities in this new scenario. These dynamics are similar to those observed in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.
View Dr. Aponte’s presention, at the Post-Disaster Recovery in Puerto Rico and Local Participation Webinar, on the Centro YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA5zgoI1MQw&feature=emb_logo
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