Monetary Bang and Inflation after the January 2021 Devaluation of the Cuban Peso Luis R. Luis   The Cuban government set January 1st 2021 as day zero when the convertible peso or CUC will merge into the CUP or Cuban peso which will devalue from 1 per dollar to a new rate of 24 per […]

CUBA: DOLLAR CRUNCH, DOLLARIZATION AND DEVALUATION Luis R. Luis   Cuba faces an acute balance of payments crisis aggravated  by the COVID 19 pandemic.  The balance of payments crisis in turn is reflected in severe shortages of foodstuffs, medicines and other essential goods.  So far measures taken to deal with the crisis are largely fiscal […]

CUBA’S UNCERTAIN REVENUES FROM MEDICAL EXPORTS Luis R. Luis   It is well known that exports of medical and other professional services are Cuba’s largest source of export income, surpassing tourism and outstripping merchandise exports. It is also a controversial income source as doctors are treated as mere appendages of the Cuban state deprived of […]

EXIT AND PARTICIPATION: RESPONSES TO DECLINING MEMBERSHIP IN SMALL CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS Roger R. Betancourt In a classic work titled ‘Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses To Declining Membership in Firms, Organizations and States’, Albert O. Hirschman suggested that there was a third factor linking exit (leaving the firm organization or state) to voice (acting in […]

The Misery of Cuban Merchandise Exports and the Sustainability of the Balance of Payments Ernesto Hernández-Catá The evolution of Cuba’s merchandise exports since the early 1990s is a source of deep concern. The value of exports stagnated during the 1990s and fell in relation to GDP, mostly because of the collapse in sugar exports. The […]