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The Cuban Economy

Paper Session

Friday, Jan. 4, 2019 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Hilton Atlanta, 406
Hosted By: Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy
  • Chair: Carlos Seiglie, Rutgers University-Newark

The Absolution of History

John Devereux
,
City University of New York-Queen’s College and Graduate Center

Abstract

TBA

Cuba’s ‘Structural’ Reforms: After a Few Years, Time Can Tell

Roger Betancourt
,
University of Maryland

Abstract

On April of 2011 a number of seemingly substantial reforms were approved at the 6th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party as well as Raul Castro’s official nomination as First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party. The economic reforms were initially viewed with a varying degree of optimism by a range of observers. Cautiously optimistic ones labelled nine of the economic reforms ‘structural’ (Mesa-Lago and Perez-Lopez 2013). On April of 2018 The National Assembly voted Miguel Diaz-Canel as President of the State Council, fulfilling one of the proposed political reforms approved in 2011 in a literal sense. Doubts remain about its meaning, since Raul Castro retained his role as First Secretary of the Communist Party and Chief of the Armed Forces. In any event, it is widely acknowledged by all parties that fixing the economy is a most important aspect of the new President’s job. In this essay we evaluate progress on the so-called ‘structural’ economic reforms since their announcement in 2011 and the likelihood of further progress under Diaz-Canel.
Discussant(s)
Luis Locay
,
University of Miami
Roger Betancourt
,
University of Maryland
Monica Garcia-Perez
,
St. Cloud State University
JEL Classifications
  • P2 - Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies
  • O5 - Economywide Country Studies