Island Paradox paints the first comprehensive, census-based portrait of social and economic life in Puerto Rico. Distinguished economists Francisco L. Rivera-Batiz and Carlos E. Santiago describe the complex mixture of gains and losses experienced during the island's almost fifty years as a U.S. commonwealth and how those changes combined with other demographic forces to transform the island within a single generation.

In charting the changing fortunes of Puerto Rico, Rivera-Batiz and Santiago give us unique insights into a nation closely linked with ours by trade and migration. In doing so, they give us a sense of the island's prospects for success in the next fifty years.