Cuba

This book is a study of Cuba's economic development under communism over the last fifty-five years. The authors find that Cuba's socioeconomic development has gone backward since the Cuban Revolution in 1959. The authors conclude that Fidel Castro's revolution has been an economic disaster for Cuba.

The book first outlines Cuba's economic position prior to the revolution. It reviews Cuba's rankings with respect to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in the 1950s and examines the strength of pre-Castro Cuba's foreign reserves and the health of its monetary system. It also presents pre-Castro Cuba's investments in health care and education and documents the island's development potential in the 1950s. The last few chapters describe the precipitous decline in all of these areas of Cuba's economy under Castro.

Despite the socioeconomic catastrophe of the Castro years, the authors envision a post-Castro Cuba, where this book can provide a benchmark to measure the developmental success that the Cuban work-ethic and entrepreneurial spirit can generate in a free-market system.

Autorentext

Jorge Salazar-Carrillo, Jorge Salazar-Carrillo, Andro Nodarse-Leon

Inhalt

1: The Economic History of Cuba before 1950; 2: Economic Development and National Income in the 1950s; 3: Monetary System and Trade in the 1950s; 4: Economic Participation and Standards of Living in the 1950s; 5: Education and Health Care in the 1950s; 6: Prospects for Future Growth; 7: Cuban Communism: The Road to Nowhere; 8: The Cuban Economy from 1972 to 2002; 9: A Review of the Collapse of Cuba's Largest Industry; 10: The Reconfiguration of Cuba's Economy in the New Millennium; 11: Cuba's Developmental Standing after Fifty-Six Years of Communism; 12: Conclusion