Cuba's Second Economy: From behind the Scenes to Center Stage

by Jorge Perez-Lopez

Overview

Without doubt, Cuba is facing its most serious economic challenge in nearly thirty-five years of revolutionary rule. There is consensus that as the official, centrally planned economy has faltered, ordinary citizens eke out a living only by engaging in under-the-table, unrecorded, and mostly illegal activities. In fact, this "second economy" is growing by leaps and bounds. This volume sketches the contours of the very complex phenomenon of the second economy of socialist Cuba, and discusses its evolution over time, as well as the role that it may play in the transition to a market economy on the island.

The economic crisis of the 1990s has propelled the second economy from behind the scenes to center stage. Not only have black markets mushroomed, but second economy activities connected to the free-market that the Castro government has traditionally discouraged or even prosecuted are now being incorporated into the government's own economic strategy. Self-employment, cultivation of individual plots, and the use of foreign currencies to buy or sell goods, are now promoted with considerable enthusiasm by the leadership.

Perez-Lopez examines different ways of thinking about unregulated economic activities that have been set forth in the literature and concludes that the concept of the second economy is the most appropriate for Cuba. He brings together available information from a multitude of sources on the manifestations of the second economy in Cuba and of its operation. Cuba's Second Economy is a timely study of an economic system in crisis. It will be of interest to economists, political scientists, policymakers, and Latin America area scholars.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781560001898
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	01/30/1995
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jorge F. Perez-Lopez is an international economist who has done extensive research and writing on the Cuban economy, in particular, national income accounts, energy, foreign trade and investment, the sugar industry, and the transition to a market economy. He is the author of The Economics of Cuban Sugar and the editor of Cuba at the Crossroads.

Table of Contents

1: The Second Economy: Concepts and Measurement; 2: Cuba’s First Economy; 3: Cuba’s Second Economy; 4: The Cuban Economy in Crisis; 5: The Second Economy and the Market Transition

Editorial Reviews

Well documented and well written, this volume will enlighten anyone interested in the Cuban economy and Cuba's future.” —J. L. Dietz, Choice "Perez-Lopez accomplishes a tour de force in describing the component parts of this second economy, measuring what role these parts have played in the past and are playing at present. . . . The author's effort to explain the role of the second economy in Cuba's economic transition is particularly valuable because it shows how, even in Cuba, the black market and other unofficial economic activities can become central to the nation's, and the people's, survival." —William Ratliff, Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs

From the Publisher