Measuring Economic Growth Income Distribution In Revolutionary Cuba

Monograph comprising an evaluation of economic growth, basic needs satisfaction and income distribution after the 1959 revolution in Cuba - discusses historical trends, growth rate measurement problems, economic structure changes, trade, industrial production, agricultural production, successes in reducing unemployment, poverty and regional disparities, etc. Bibliography pp. 212 to 232, graphs, map, references and statistical tables.

Analysis of economic and social development trends in Cuba and the impact of the socialist revolution on economic growth, employment, consumption, income distribution and socio-economic conditions - examines the historical background, production indexes, economic indicators and estimates of gross domestic product, 1946-1981; studies dependence, structural change, basic needs, labour force and unemployment; includes statistical tables on foreign investment, industrial production, wages, growth rate, etc. Graphs.

Monograph on economic policy and economic development trends in Cuba from 1959 to mid-1972 - covers income distribution, economic growth, human resources planning and employment, international economic relations, etc. Bibliography pp. 355 to 371 and statistical tables.

Analysts attempting to assess economic growth in revolutionary Cuba are faced with two formidable obstacles: (1) official macroeconomic indicators published by the government are scarce and sometimes inconsistent because of frequent changes in the method of calculation; and (2) these indicators are not compatible with those produced by market economies because of differences in national income concepts. Because of these obstacles, it is difficult to analyze the performance of Cuba’s economy over time and to compare its economic performance directly with that of other nations. Using a variant of the method developed by Abram Bergson to estimate the growth rates of the Soviet Union and subsequently applied to centrally planned economies in Eastern Europe, Jorge Perez-López has estimated the growth rate of the Cuban economy in real terms for the 1965–1982 period. His estimated indexes suggest that the Cuban economy expanded at a considerably slower pace than would be implied by official data. By constructing yardsticks of economic performance for revolutionary Cuba that are compatible with those used by Western nations, Perez-López provides for the first time a basis for analyzing the real growth of the Cuban economy during the revolutionary period.

This paper quantitatively measures the impact of the 1959 Cuban revolution on the country's GDP per capita and exports. We use various policy evaluation methods to obtain a valid counterfactual of Cuba's GDP per capita after the revolution using other Latin American countries as control candidates. We find evidence that regarding both outcomes, the overall impact of the revolution was negative. We also document a negative effect of the economic embargo imposed by the United States and a sizable, positive effect of Cuba's trade agreement with the Soviet Union.

Monograph comprising an evaluation of economic growth, basic needs satisfaction and income distribution after the 1959 revolution in Cuba - discusses historical trends, growth rate measurement problems, economic structure changes, trade, industrial production, agricultural production, successes in reducing unemployment, poverty and regional disparities, etc. Bibliography pp. 212 to 232, graphs, map, references and statistical tables.