Markets, markets everywhere? Understanding the Cuban anomaly

Deere, Carmen Diana; Meurs, Mieke

doi:10.1016/0305-750x(92)90054-y

Cited by 21 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The inequality that was being generated between those who had access to dollars, primarily through remittances from relatives in the US or via links to the tourism sector, and those who did not, was resulting in tremendous dierences in consumption levels. The leadership came to realize that the current inequality far surpassed that which characterized the period when Cuba had experimented with free peasant markets (1980±6), although the latter been closed down precisely for this reason (Deere and Meurs, 1992).…”

Section: Perspectives and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This proposition would undoubtedly require a deepening of the reform process in at least two directions: the development of a free input market and a revamping of the food rationing system. The Cuban experience with free peasant markets in the 1980s demonstrated the pitfalls of trying to maintain a free product market without a free input market (Deere and Meurs, 1992). Resources were simply diverted from planned to market production, leading to a decline in private sector deliveries to the state in addition to the pilfering of supplies from state enterprises (which aected the latter's performance as well).…”

Section: Concluding Thoughtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reforming Cuban Agriculture

Deere

1997

Development and Change

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This article focuses on the two major reforms undertaken in the Cuban agricultural sector during 1993 and 1994: the re-organization of the state farm sector into worker-managed production co-operatives and the opening of free agricultural markets for above-plan production. It is argued that the Cuban agricultural sector is now characterized by multiple forms of organization of production and land tenure or a`mixed economy', and that the two reforms have produced a turn-around in agricultural performance. Still, the macroeconomic impact is likely to depend on a deepening of the reforms in two directions: the development of a free market in agricultural inputs and a reform of the food rationing system.Cuban agricultural policy has changed signi®cantly since 1989, the year of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the subsequent crumbling of the Socialist trading bloc. The most important reform occurred in September 1993, when it was announced that Cuba's huge state farm sector was to be dismantled and re-organized as worker-managed production co-operatives. This reform was followed, in October 1994, by the opening of free agricultural markets for above-plan production.In this article I argue that 1) the Cuban agricultural sector is now characterized by multiple forms of organization of production and land tenure; 2) to the extent that the new production co-operatives become truly participatory and self-managed units, the Cuban transformation could generate more profoundly`socialist' or collective relations of production than those governing the pre-reform period; and 3) that while inequality will continue to grow with the opening of the free agricultural market, inequality should grow at a slower rate than without a free market in foodstus.

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Section: Perspectives and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Concluding Thoughtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reforming Cuban Agriculture

Deere

1997

Development and Change

Self Cite

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“…The selective price increase was already tried in 1981 (Habel, 1991, p. 45). The current farming markets are based on the peasant free markets of the 1980s (Deere & Meurs, 1992). TRDs were preceded by the stores for tourists and diplomats (where US dollars were used) as they already existed when the population was not allowed to have foreign currency (in fact in some cases the same facilities have been used) (Marquetti, 1996, p. 6).…”

Section: Tacticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Type of Transition is Cuba Undergoing?

March-Poquet¹

2000

Post-Communist Economies

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Since 1990 the Cuban economy has faced a crisis comparable with those in Eastern Europe. However, since 1995 approximately, the Cuban reform has been showing significant results in terms of economic recovery and financial adjustment. As is the case with the Chinese reform, the stabilising, privatising and liberalising measures taken in Cuba point to a reform strategy essentially different from that followed in Eastern Europe. This article shows two relevant aspects of the Cuban case: first, the Cuban reform is a transition process toward the market although forced by external circumstances and still at an early developmental stage; second, the Cuban transition is in line with the evolutionary conception of a transition.

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“…By 1982, the free markets had been restricted to supplies from private farmers who were members of the AsociacioÂn de Agricultores PequenÄos (ANAP), and in 1986 they were closed altogether (Rosenberg, 1992). Parallel markets which oered foodstus, clothing and other items continued throughout the 1980s, however (Deere and Meurs, 1992), and were only shut down in 1991, after the beginning of the Special Period, when the acute shortages of imported industrial inputs, including fuel, raw materials and agricultural inputs, severely aected domestic production of consumer goods as well as foodstus (Deere, 1993). Shortages of basic consumer goods and fuel hit the Cuban population severely during the early 1990s.…”

Section: Securing the Basic Commodities And Services For Daily Reprodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Renegotiating the Reproductive Bargain: Gender Analysis of Economic Transition in Cuba in the 1990s

Pearson¹

1997

Development and Change

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This article argues that Cuba's economic demise following the collapse of the former Soviet Union should be seen as a crisis in reproduction as well as a crisis in consumption and production. Using qualitative ®eld research carried out in 1994 and 1995 in Havana and in the province of Matanzas, the author shows that the commodities and services required for reproduction could no longer be guaranteed through the distribution system of the Cuban state. Consequently, people began to devise a range of survival strategies in order to ensure the reproduction of their households, including trading in unocial markets, leaving formal employment and engaging in a portfolio of incomegenerating activities in the informal sector. Such strategies were patterned by the existing sexual division of labour and show a reinforcement of traditional gender roles. The article argues that these changes will have important political as well as economic consequences for Cuba's future.

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Markets, markets everywhere? Understanding the Cuban anomaly

Cited by 21 publications

References 9 publications

Reforming Cuban Agriculture

Reforming Cuban Agriculture

What Type of Transition is Cuba Undergoing?

Renegotiating the Reproductive Bargain: Gender Analysis of Economic Transition in Cuba in the 1990s

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