Voices of Change in Cuba from the Non-State Sector

Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8229-6509-1
Verlag: University of Pittsburgh Press

Buch, Englisch, 176 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 150 mm x 231 mm, Gewicht: 318 g

Reihe: Pitt Latin American Series

More than one million Cubans, representing thirty percent of the country’s labor force, currently comprise the non-state sector. These include self-employed workers and micro-entrepreneurs, sharecropping farmers, members of new cooperatives, and buyers and sellers of private dwellings. This development represents a crucial structural reform implemented by Raúl Castro since becoming Cuba’s leader in 2006, and may become the most dynamic economic force for the country’s future. Despite this phenomenon, little has been published about the demographic makeup of this group (age, gender, race, and education), as well as their economic conditions and aspirations.

Based on eighty in-depth interviews recently conducted in Cuba, this book captures actual voices from this evolving economic sector. It details workers’ level of satisfaction with what they do and earn, profits (and how they are allocated between consumption and investment), plans to expand their activities, receiving foreign remittances and microcredit, competition, forms of advertising, and payment of taxes. Perhaps most revealing are the speakers’ views on the obstacles they face and their desires for change and improvement. As such, the book offers fascinating insights into today’s Cuban economy from the non-state sector, while also reflecting on its potential for development and the obstacles it faces.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mesa-Lago, Carmelo

Über Autor(innen)

Carmelo Mesa-Lago is Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics and Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, and former director of the Center for Latin American Studies there. He is currently president of the Commission on Social Security for the Americas, and has served as a lecturer in thirty-nine countries. The author or editor of numerous books, Mesa-Lago also serves on the editorial board of seven academic journals.