Intro­duc­tion to the Cuban Economy

October 12, 2001 - 6:00 PM

Evaldo A. Cabar­rouy
Pro­fes­sor of Eco­nom­ics and Finance, Uni­ver­sity of Puerto Rico
For three decades Cuba’s eco­nomic pol­icy gave the State a lead­ing role in the pro­duc­tion of goods and ser­vices, with a marked pre­dom­i­nance of plan­ning over the mar­ket mech­a­nism in the reg­u­la­tion of eco­nomic activ­ity. In 1989, the sud­den dis­so­lu­tion of its very spe­cial link­ages with the Social­ist coun­tries forced Cuba to make pro­found reforms in its econ­omy and to change the rules pre­vi­ously gov­ern­ing its social life. Though the State con­tin­ues to play an impor­tant role in pro­duc­tion and resource allo­ca­tion, a “sec­ond econ­omy” has risen and grad­u­ally become more con­sol­i­dated with the for­ma­tion of mixed-capital enter­prises, and the increase in the num­ber of actors in the lib­er­al­ized mar­kets. These depar­tures from the sys­tem of cen­tral­ized plan­ning has given rise to a “mixed social­ist econ­omy” (economía mixta de carác­ter social­ista) in which both the State and the mar­ket coex­ist, with no clear delin­eation in resource allo­ca­tion or the coor­di­na­tion of eco­nomic activity.

This sem­i­nar will exam­ine the country’s eco­nomic per­for­mance dur­ing the last decade and ana­lyze the major prob­lems that affect the evo­lu­tion of the Cuban econ­omy and soci­ety. More specif­i­cally, the main objec­tive of the sem­i­nar is to explore some of the main eco­nomic issues and problem-areas of the econ­omy in the 1990s. The Fri­day ses­sion begins with an intro­duc­tory gen­eral back­ground to the Cuban econ­omy fol­lowed by an exam­i­na­tion of the eco­nomic reforms expe­ri­enced in the 1993–1999 period. The Sat­ur­day ses­sions will focus on spe­cific key eco­nomic sec­tors, the eco­nomic impact of U.S. eco­nomic sanc­tions, and the pos­si­bil­i­ties of busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties in Cuba.

Fee:
Fri­day: $25, $20 Stu­dents;
Sat­ur­day: $110, $100 Stu­dents;
Both dates: $120, 110 Students.