This paper assimilates aspects of the world-historic perspective of dependency theory, especially the work of Andre Gunder Frank, and the way it illuminates the specific role Puerto Rico’s economy has played in the international division of labour. The paper argues that the industrialization of Puerto Rico in the period between 1948 and 1980 can be studied as a classic case suggesting that the export of capitalism, in the age of globalization, does not block development in the periphery, but rather stimulates it. It also suggests that Puerto Rico’s industrialization within a colonial framework, including its policies of no tariffs on goods traded between the United States and the island, the retention of the U.S. dollar as its currency, and the exemption of profit remittances by American subsidiaries on the island from federal taxes, anticipated the future economic reality of “development” global economies in the world today.
