Where the Cuban Economy Stands in Latin America: A New Measurement of Gross Domestic Product

Abstract

This article presents new measures of total and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and productivity of the Cuban economy, comparing them with ten economies of similar size in Latin America and the Caribbean (i.e., LAC-10). The calculations show that the Cuban economy has been losing relative weight in the region. In 1970, total Cuban GDP was 5.3 times higher than the average of the LAC-10 economies; in 2011, it was only 1.5 times higher. In 2011, Cuban GDP per capita was estimated at US$5,973. Those of Uruguay and Panama were more than twice as high of Cuba, that of Costa Rica was 69 percent higher, and that of the Dominican Republic was 46 percent higher. The decapitalization of the economy accounts for most of the decline in Cuban income. Productivity has been growing as a result of the market reforms implemented since the 1990s, but these have been insufficient to reach the best-performing economies in the region. The estimations show that the gains that the Cuban Revolution has produced in terms of social progress have gone hand in hand with great loss of economic efficiency.