ABSTRACT
Import substitution industrialization was successful in promoting economic growth but ran into increasing difficulty, both because of the small size of the domestic markets and the low level of technology. Import substitution industrialization, which was initiated in the post-Second World War period to stimulate domestic industry in Latin America, never achieved the same levels in the Caribbean Basin as in the larger countries of Latin America because of an even more acute lack of capital and technology. The shift from import substitution industrialization to export-led industrialization thus contributed to a gender recomposition of the labor force, which weakened the dominance of the male breadwinner. State policy toward export-led industrialization differs somewhat in Puerto Rico because of its continued colonial status as a US territory. Puerto Rico's export-led industrialization program, known as Operation Bootstrap, started much earlier than similar programs in other Caribbean countries, stimulated by free access to the US market.
