The Cuban embargo is a highly politicized and controversial topic that leads to a great deal of misinformation by those who want to keep it and by those who want to lift it. At the same time there are legitimate issues associated with both positions that should be considered by any observer or policy maker […]
Another Cuban Statistical Mystery
Official Cuban statistics are full of mysteries, and this is particularly the case in the area of the balance of payments. Even though data on trade in goods and services is available through 2011, data on other current account transactions (grants, remittances and interest payments abroad) have not been published since 2009. Data on capital […]
Oscar Espinosa Chepe
The members of ASCE are deeply saddened by the news of the passing after a long illness of Oscar Espinosa Chepe in Madrid on September 23. Chepe was a lonstanding member of ASCE whose sharp analysis and insights of Cuba’s economy and social conditions enlightened discussions at annual meetings of the Association and stimulated thinking […]
Government Support to Enterprises in Cuba
Cuba has a long history of State support to enterprises. As indicated in Table1, total state subsidies and transfers to enterprises exploded in the early 1990s, following the elimination of Soviet economic assistance, reaching a peak of almost one third of GDP in 1992. From then on, state support then declined steadily to a trough […]
Gaging Cuba’s Economic Reforms
Cuba under Raul Castro is undertaking economic reforms, allowing some private small business, shifting labor from the state to the private sector, freeing selected retail prices, improving management of state enterprises and allowing purchase and sale of residential housing and cars among private parties. In this note I gauge Cuba’s progress in economic reforms using […]