Notes[ref]I acknowledge helpful comments by Carmelo Mesa-Lago[/ref] In moving to a democratic and market-based setting most of the former socialist economies have faced common problems. In these notes I will focus on two important safety net aspects. The first one relates to the labor market, employment in particular. The second has to do with what […]

Preface Although the Council of State approved legislation to allow foreign private investment in Cuba in the form of joint ventures as far back as 1982, it was not until the second half of the 1980’s that the authorities launched an aggressive campaign to attract foreign capital when the country entered into a severe economic […]

Las reformas económicas que comenzaron en agosto de 1993 en Cuba, con la despenalización de la tenencia y uso de divisas, tuvieron su último capítulo cuando la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular (ANPP) aprobó la Le y del Sistema Tributario durante su última reunión celebrada el pasado tres de agosto. Exactamente un año después que […]

Notes[ref]I would like to thank Andrew Berg of the IMF for valuable discussion on this paper.[/ref] I. Introduction Serious economic reform will begin in Cuba only after the current regime has relinquished power. As in Eastern Europe, serious reform necessarily entails a move to a free-market economy relying primarily on private ownership of property. The […]

For the past three and a half years, the Russian reformers have been struggling with the gigantic task of stabilizing the Russian economy while transforming it into a modern and efficient structure able to compete in international markets and respond to the needs of the Russian people. They have travelled a long distance. Since January […]