Notes1 The Asian crisis and the problems in many transition economies, especially Russia, have brought to the surface a number of issues that implicitly or explicitly involve addressing one of these two questions: Is economic development feasible for some countries? Or its variant: Under what circumstances is economic development feasible for some countries? Over the […]
Comments by Roger R. Betancourt on “The Strengths and Weaknesses of Factor Analysis in Predicting Cuba’s GDP,” by Nicolás Sánchez and Miles Cahill
This paper is interesting, well written, and for the most part insightful. Nonetheless, it fails to appreciate the main weakness of factor analysis for predicting Cuba’s GDP, or that of any other command economy. The essence of the technique, as the authors clearly explain, is to gather data on a number of socioeconomic indicators (37 […]
Comments by Roger R. Betancourt on “The Welfare State and Its Ethical Implications: A Viable Alternative for Post-Castro’s Cuba?” by Martínez-Piedra
This paper raises a question in its title and proceeds to provide an answer in a very scholarly fashion. The origins of the welfare state are amply documented together with its shortcomings as it has developed in Europe. Worthwhile ethical distinctions are made with respect to the tension between security and freedom. The punchline is […]
Comments by Roger R. Betancourt on “The Implications of Good Governance for the Reconstruction of Cuba” by Pérez
This paper provides the beginnings of a discussion on a topic that is both of the utmost importance and that has been somewhat neglected until recently. It should be viewed as a collection of subtopics for further discussion rather than as a definitive assessment of any particular item. With this view in mind, I offer […]
Comments by Roger R. Betancourt on “Restitution vs. Indemnification: Their Effects on the Pace of Privatization” by Luis Locay and Cigdem Ural
The problem the authors choose to solve is the seeming paradox that economists recommend some form of indemnification and oppose restitution but practitioners in transition settings have usually chosen restitution rather than indemnification. In laying out the problem, the authors set up a bit of a straw man by arguing that there are only two […]