Freedom and Prosperity Around the World
Mar 30, 2026
How the Dominican Republic can escape the ‘middle-income trap’
By
Marino Auffant
Over three decades, the Dominican Republic has consolidated stable electoral competition and built a diversified, open economy delivering the fastest GDP growth in Latin America. To escape the middle-income trap, the country must now confront deferred structural reforms—especially in education, institutional effectiveness, and fiscal capacity—turning stability into sustained convergence.