“No hay dinero que pague una buena atención médica” or “La medicina es un sacerdocio.” These colloquial phrases used in Cuba many years ago refer to medical services as an almost divine vocation. Things are different now in most highly industrialized societies. Why has reality changed so dramatically? It seems that when monetary compensation is […]

Notes1 It is not farfetched to believe that, sooner or later, Cuban agriculture will be centered on a free enterprise system.2 That transition, which many believe has already started with the breakup of the state monopoly on land and the creation of cooperatives in 1993 and of free agricultural markets in 1994, will rest on […]

“Actions are caused by desires and opportunities.” —Jon Elster1 Can social mechanisms sustain political order in autocratic- authoritarian regimes? Does the use of mechanisms tell us something significant about how these regimes govern? In many ways, these questions are more than rhetorical. Despite the indiscriminative repression against its opponents, citizens continue to find innovating mechanism […]

INTRODUCTION This paper examines one of the most important bilateral issues that will need to be addressed by the United States and a future Cuban Government—the resolution of the outstanding claims of U.S. nationals1 for the uncompensated expropriation of their assets in the early years of the Cuban Revolution. The paper assumes that resolution of […]

Notes1 One of the few sources of foreign capital available to Cuba is direct foreign investment. Cuba receives virtually no aid from foreign governments or international organizations.2 Cuba is also unable to borrow from multinational lending institutions because of its history of defaults on foreign loans and other factors. 3 The loans that Cuba is […]