This study examines the extent to which Puerto Rico's experience with Operation Boostrap, inaugurated in 1948, can be used to predict the social consequences of NAFTA for Mexico. It finds that Operation Bootstrap accelerated a decline in agricultural employment, growth of the surplus population, and massive emigration to the U.S., effects that are likely to be repeated with NAFTA. The study concludes with a comparative examination of Puerto Rican and Mexican-origin persons in the U.S., finding that while the decision to migrate results in significant improvements in their average economic conditions of life, it also results in significant deteriorations of other social conditions of life.
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