Cuba's Heterodoxy: The Macroeconomic Stabilization of the Cuban Depression

Abstract

Cuban economic planning and its heterodox adjustment to the collapse of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance occupy a controversial place in discussions on globalization. Frequently, observers' diverse political affiliations generate biased representations of Cuban economic policy. Based on macroeconomic analysis deploying the AS/AD as well as the "Australian" small open economy model, this article analyzes Cuba's adjustment since 1989. An ingenious mix of government policies tailored to the specific characteristics of the Cuban economy and polity is identified. Since it is difficult to separate the program's success from the Cuban Revolution's hegemony in Cuban society, macroeconomic analysis is complemented with discourse analytic considerations. Analogous to "development as a discourse", the analysis of the adjustment demonstrates that "Cuban socialism as a discourse" produces instrument-effects that run counter its value claims. The article underscores the necessity of examining discursive realities through different lenses and suggests that macroeconomic analysis is a useful complement to standard methods of anthropological inquiry. The article's arguments are explored more extensively in Globalization, Macroeconomic Stabilization and the Construction of Social Reality.

Keywords: Structural adjustment, Cuba

JEL Classification: E63, O11, P21