Rule by one has innumerable times been reproached for the contradiction which is supposed to lie in the purely quantitative disproportion between the one­ness of the ruler and the many-ness of the ruled. — Georg Simmel [ref]Georg Simmel, “Subordination Under an Individual,” in Kurt H. Wolff, ed., The Sociology of Georg Simmel (New York: Free […]

The recent boom in Cuban tourism is a classic exam­ple of maximization under constraints. Hampered by the tightened U.S. embargo and by the disappear­ance of substantial economic aid from the former Communist Bloc countries, the Cuban government has exploited one of the few growth sectors open to it. Joint ventures with companies from foreign coun­tries […]

Notes1 In mid-1997, the Cuban economy remains in the doldrums. The economic downturn that began over a decade ago, and intensified in the 1990s, continues to batter the island. While the economic free fall of the early 1990s apparently ended sometime in 1994, positive economic growth recorded since then has not markedly improved the population’s […]

Notes1 El Artículo XVII de la Constitución de 1940 contiene cuatro partes: la primera trata sobre los bienes y las finanzas del estado; la segunda sobre el presupuesto; la tercera sobre el Tribunal de Cuentas; y la cuarta sobre la economía nacional. Los comentarios que ofrezco en este panel son desde el punto de vista […]

Notes1 This paper reviews some of the recent economic literature on the role of government in market economies and in economies in transition from central planning to a market structure, and draws implications for the reconstruction of Cuba. After an introductory section which defines governance, the paper discusses how governments have a distinct role to […]