Cuba’s Petroleum Trade Statistics and the Impact of Cutbacks in Venezuelan Oil.[1] In a 2009 article, Jorge Perez-Lopez and Carmelo Mesa Lago suggested that Cuba’s official GDP data involved “…discontinuities, obfuscation and puzzles”. Something similar can be said about the statistics on petroleum trade published by the official Cuban statistical agency, ONEI. Cuban data for […]

The Exchange of Doctors for Oil and the Acceleration of Cuba’s GDP Growth since the Turn of the Century. [1] In an important article, John Devereux recently provided a thorough and critical examination of Cuban statistics on aggregate production.[2] Among other things, he drew attention to the sharp increase in Cuba’s real GDP growth (as […]

THE CUBA-US BASEBALL AGREEMENT: POSTING VS. FREE AGENCY Luis R. Luis   The Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB), Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major Leagues Players’ Association (MLA) reached an agreement on December 19 setting up a framework whereby Cuban players can enter into contracts with US baseball teams.  This agreement sets terms under which […]

CUBA—The End Game Summary of the findings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy held on July 26-28, 2018 By Paul Meo*   The 28th Meeting of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE), held in Miami on July 26-28, was slightly different from […]

FOREIGN FINANCE TO CUBA RESTARTS AFTER DEBT RESTRUCTURING Luis R. Luis   Cuba for several decades has experienced limited access to international financial markets.  This followed defaults and arrears on foreign loans, bonds and other financial obligations, the withdrawal from international financial agencies, the closed access to the US economy and a fragile balance of […]