I am honored to have been invited to participate in the panel discussion of the issues raised by Felipe Pazos ten years ago in his seminal paper on economic problems during Cuba’s free-market transition.1 The topic assigned to me is foreign investment. Dr. Pazos wrote as follows with respect to foreign investment in a transition-period […]

Notes1 On August 18, 1998 Cuba enacted Law-Decree No. 187.2 This law provides the framework for Cuba’s Enterprise Optimization (Perfeccionamiento Empresarial) Program (hereinafter “EOP”).3 This program seeks to establish a foundation and set specific guidelines for a process whose goal is to achieve more efficiency and productivity in Cuba’s state-owned enterprises (“SOEs”). Cuban sources describe […]

Notes1 On March 12, 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, better known as the Helms-Burton law. At a time when the Cuban government was struggling for survival and opening the island to foreign capital in almost every sector of the economy, the U.S. legislation appeared to be a […]

The ration book—the Cuban consumer’s hated little passport to survival. —Christopher Dickey, August 31, 1982.2 The ration card is not only a testimony to scarcity. The Revolution has converted it… into a testimony to equality in difficulties. —Adolfo Gilly (1964, p. 69). Resolving the food crisis is essential for the very survival of the revolution. […]

Notes1 El foco de Olson (2000) en su último libro es “el ejercicio del poder y el papel de la ciudadanía” (Cadwell, 2000) donde se estudia el proceso mediante el cual el bien común podría determinar lo que es un buen gobierno. Este tema lo desarrolla el autor tratando de explicar dos fenómenos importantes: “¿Por […]