New Book on Cuban Economy Available for Pre-Order from Harvard University Press

The latest book publication of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) in partnership with the Harvard University Press (HUP) covers the current economic situation in Cuba and will be released to the public next month. The book is titled The Cuban Economy in a New Era: An Agenda for Change toward Durable Development and is available for pre-order on the HUP website. The Cuban Economy in a New Era is edited by Jorge I. Domínguez, Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico at Harvard and Co-Chair of the Cuba Studies Program at DRCLAS; Omar Everleny Pérez Villanueva, Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Havana and former short-term Cuba Visiting Scholar at DRCLAS; and Lorena Barberia, former Program Associate and Director of the Cuba Studies Program at DRCLAS. Publication synopsis: Cuba’s economy has grown hardly at all during Raúl Castro’s presidency (2006-2016), hit by the economic collapse of its Venezuelan partner and burdened by a legacy of decayed infrastructure, a bankrupt sugar industry, and stagnant agriculture. This book diagnoses the ills that afflict Cuba’s economy and examines possible economic policy changes in seven areas: macroeconomic policy, central planning, role of small and medium private enterprises, nonagricultural cooperatives, financing options for the new private sector, state enterprise management, and relations with international financial institutions. Cuban economists are the authors of these seven chapters, whose combined import is further considered in introductory and concluding chapters. The book stems from over a decade of scholarly collaboration with Harvard scholars, anchored in a series of workshops held over the years in Cambridge and Havana.