Carmelo Mesa-Lago Research Articles

Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Evaluation of Four Decades of Pension Privatization in Latin America, 1980–2020: Promises and Reality. Mexico City: Fundación Friedrich Ebert, 2021. Figures, tables, abbreviations, notes, bibliography, appendixes, 204 pp

Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Evaluation of Four Decades of Pension Privatization in Latin America, 1980–2020: Promises and Reality. Mexico City: Fundación Friedrich Ebert, 2021. Figures, tables, abbreviations, notes, bibliography, appendixes, 204 pp

The Cuban Economic Crisis: Its Causes and Possible Policies for a Transition by Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Jan Svejnar (review)

The Cuban Economic Crisis: Its Causes and Possible Policies for a Transition by Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Jan Svejnar (review)

Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Evaluation of Four Decades of Pension Privatization in Latin America, 1980−2020: Promises and Reality (Mexico City: Fundación Friedrich Ebert, 2021), pp. 204, pb and E-book.

Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Evaluation of Four Decades of Pension Privatization in Latin America, 1980−2020: Promises and Reality (Mexico City: Fundación Friedrich Ebert, 2021), pp. 204, pb and E-book. - Volume 54 Issue 2

‘Evaluation of Four Decades of Pension Privatization in Latin America, 1980–2020: Promises and Reality’ By Carmelo Mesa-Lago

‘Evaluation of Four Decades of Pension Privatization in Latin America, 1980–2020: Promises and Reality’ By Carmelo Mesa-Lago

Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Voices of Change in Cuba from the Non-State Sector (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018), pp. xii + 178, $27.95, pb.

Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Voices of Change in Cuba from the Non-State Sector (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018), pp. xii + 178, $27.95, pb.

Voices of Change in Cuba from the Non-State Sector, by Carmelo Mesa-Lago (ed.)

Voices of Change in Cuba from the Non-State Sector, by Carmelo Mesa-Lago (ed.)

Voices of Change in Cuba from the Non-State Sector by Carmelo Mesa-Lago

Reviewed by: Voices of Change in Cuba from the Non-State Sector by Carmelo Mesa-Lago Omar Everleny Pérez Villanueva Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Voices of Change in Cuba from the Non-State Sector. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018. 176 pp. El libro Voces del cambio en el emergente sector no estatal en Cuba, coordinado por el prestigioso profesor Carmelo Mesa-Lago en el que participó un colectivo integrado por Roberto Veiga, Lenier González, Sofía Vera y Aníbal Pérez, es una investigación seria, donde se utilizan instrumentos de medición para un tipo de resultados que es una práctica corriente en las ciencias sociales. Aunque hubiera sido interesante haber obtenido una mayor muestra, el haber realizado ochenta entrevistas para esta obra no lo demerita, los que hacen este tipo de trabajo saben los obstáculos que se atraviesan cuando se intenta hacer una encuesta en Cuba. La obra mencionada es de gran utilidad para los que se adentran en este importante tema, y ha servido de guía para los trabajos que se han elaborado con esta temática. El desarrollo del sector no estatal en Cuba es una necesidad para el desarrollo que se pretende obtener en el documento aprobado por las autoridades cubanas acerca de las líneas estratégicas de Cuba hasta el 2030. Es harto conocido y demostrado en la realidad contemporánea que la discusión no estriba ya en dos conceptos que se presentan como antagónicos, el capitalismo y el socialismo. Hay ejemplos notorios de países de economías de mercado, donde las empresas públicas han resultado ser muy eficaces, y otros de economías socialistas, donde el mercado y las empresas privadas han resultado decisivos en los resultados económicos previstos, como son los casos de China y Vietnam. No hay que satanizar más lo privado o más ampliamente lo no estatal, en el futuro económico de Cuba, como muchos autores o políticos lo siguen presentando así en la actualidad. Lo esencial es coordinar todas las fuerzas posibles que contribuyan a la creación de riquezas, que repartidas entre todos, si el Estado es capaz de hacerlo, puedan contribuir a incrementar el bienestar de todos. Si se sigue en esa discusión del papel omnipresente de la empresa estatal como la única capaz de llevar a Cuba hacia el desarrollo económico, nos quedaremos mucho tiempo en esa discusión, olvidándonos de tantos años de quehacer económico. En las más de 200 páginas de la obra, divididas en cada uno de los actores del sector estatal como los cooperativistas, cuentapropistas, arrendatarios, se ofrecen opiniones muy certeras de la realidad actual cubana y salen conclusiones acertadas de las dificultades que atraviesa este sector para su desarrollo, sesgadas por la opinión de los hacedores de política, que hay que evitar la concentración de la propiedad y de la riqueza de estos actores. Como expresó el colega y economista Pedro Monreal, "en Cuba parecería ser que el combate es a la riqueza y no a la pobreza, como es habitual en el mundo actual." Coincido plenamente con una de las conclusiones que expresa la obra [End Page 361] "Probablemente, la reforma estructural más importante de Raúl Castro ha sido la apertura del sector no estatal en Cuba," donde ya tienen una participación del 30 por ciento de la fuerza laboral del país y probablemente aporten al presupuesto nacional el 10 por ciento de los ingresos al mismo. Se demuestra en el libro que las llamadas cooperativas no agrícolas (CNA)—llamadas así para distinguirla de aquellas que existían antes en la agricultura—, aún tenían una poca participación en la economía cubana, con sólo 367 entidades operando, la mayor parte en la parte occidental, y casi todas en los servicios tales como restaurantes y servicios de reparación de enseres o técnicos, muy pocas en la industria o en la construcción, y plagadas de enormes dificultades para conseguir los insumos que necesitan. En general esta obra debe leerse con detenimiento, y adem...

Cuba under Raúl Castro: Assessing the Reforms by Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Jorge Pérez-López (review)

Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Jorge Perez-Lopez. Cuba under Raul Castro: Assessing the Reforms. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2013. xv + 293 pp.Distinguished economists and pioneering scholars Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Jorge Perez-Lopez have written the most wide-ranging, provocative, and deeply researched discussion available of the nature, underpinnings, and impact of Raul Castro's unprecedented economic reforms. Eminently accessible to a broad, interdisciplinary audience, Cuba under Raul Castro: Assessing the Reforms relies on a historically informed approach that elucidates how recent policies form part of a larger pattern of policy making that has been in place since Cuba's turn toward Communist Party-planned development in 1961. Like these authors' previous works, especially the contributions of Mesa-Lago in the 1970s and 1980s, this book exposes much of Cuba's day-to-day realities by excavating statistical data that is extremely difficult to obtain in a country with long traditions of treating economic indicators and observably negative policy outcomes not as issues for scholarly or open debate but as matters of national security.By their own admission, Mesa-Lago and Perez-Lopez affect a refreshingly light interpretive touch in tone and style, seeking to provide a balanced and objective analysis, free of the usual agendas that so marked evaluative studies throughout the revolution (xv). Thus, they allow their rich array of quantitative and qualitative sources (most of which were generated by the Cuban government and analysts on the island) to speak for themselves. The result is a disturbing portrait of a government that refuses to grasp the fundamental lessons of policy decisions, even when those decisions planted the seeds of economic decay and overall impoverishment in the very behaviors and resistance of citizens whose labor and attitudes it sought to control. Through a detailed, chronological synthesis covering the period 1959-2006, the authors demonstrate how often the political logic [of maintaining a monopoly on rule] prevailed over economic logic, even if it resulted in deterioration of economic and living standards (25).Specifically, Mesa-Lago and Perez-Lopez prove that new rules governing the most essential aspects of life in Cuba reflect an extraordinary degree of consistency with regard to purpose, goals, and outcome, if not the methods and justifications, adopted by the revolutionary elite over the past fifty years. Repeatedly, Cuba's leaders have entangled development in a dizzying back-andforth cycle of adopting what the authors call idealistic (anti-market) policies that shored up stability by reducing or entirely eliminating citizens' economic autonomy from the state to induce loyalty and periodic turns to pragmatist (market-oriented) strategies. The latter happened whenever the idealist approach failed and economic conditions reached a critical stage or provoked intense popular discontent (11-24). As Mesa-Lago and Perez-Lopez recognize, the unexpected ascent of Raul Castro to the pinnacle of authority was greeted by a rising tide of hopeful expectations. Raul himself buoyed this reaction by calling for feedback from state enterprises and agencies through mass meetings meant to generate lists of perceived problems and possible solutions. Public response was electric. From October to December 2007, five million citizens presented more than one million suggestions over the course of 215,687 assemblies (172). Yet Raul Castro's characterization of the meetings' goals, as well as his own advisers' interpretations of results, was deeply emblematic of how the revolutionary state has traditionally incorporated and reacted to critiques from below: [T]he purpose of the meetings was not for us to learn about problems; we were already aware of most of them . . . [and] some of the suggestions reflect a lack of information, particularly those in the economic sphere (Raul Castro, quoted at 173). …

Book Reviews

Roger R. Betancourt of University of Maryland reviews, “Cuban Economists on the Cuban Economy” by Al Campbell. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Twelve papers explore the perspectives of Cuban researchers on the Cuban economy. Papers discuss fifty years of revolution in the Cuban economy—a brief overview (José Luis Rodríguez); the evolution of Cuba's macroeconomy—from the triumph of the revolution through the Special Period (Oscar U-Echevarría Vallejo); Cuba's insertion in the international economy since 1990 (Nancy A. Quiñones Chang); medium- and long-range planning in Cuba—historical evolution and future prospects (Elena Álvarez González); creating a better life—the human dimension of the Cuban economy (Rita Castiñeiras García); fighting poverty—Cuba's experience (Ángela Ferriol); the Cuban population—major characteristics with a special focus on the aging population (Juan Carlos Alfonso Fraga); labor relations, labor rights, and trade unions—their history in Cuba (Alfredo Morales Cartaya); the evolution of international tourism in Cuba (Miguel Alejandro Figueras); tourism—natural product, source of exchange with the outside world, and ideological challenge (Alfredo García Jiménez); agriculture—historical transformations and future directions (Ángel Bu Wong and Pablo Fernández Domínguez); and expansion of knowledge-based economic sectors—the advantages socialism offers for Cuba (Vito N. Quevedo Rodríguez). Campbell is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Utah.” Roger R. Betancourt of University of Maryland reviews, “Cuba under Raul Castro: Assessing the Reforms” by Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Jorge Perez-Lopez. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Assesses Cuba's reforms under Raúl Castro. Discusses Cuba's economic and social development, 1959–2012; the domestic economy, 2006–12; international economic relations, 2006–12; social welfare, 2006–12; the reforms, the national debate, and the Party Congress; and assessing the reforms—impact and challenges. Mesa-Lago is Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics and Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Pérez-López is Executive Director of the Fair Labor Association in Washington, D.C.”

Cuba Under Raúl Castro: Assessing the Reforms by Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Jorge Pérez-López (review)

Reviewed by: Cuba Under Raúl Castro: Assessing the Reforms by Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Jorge Pérez-López Joseph L. Scarpaci Cuba Under Raúl Castro: Assessing the Reforms. Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Jorge Pérez-López. Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2013. xv and 295 pp., diagrs., notes, appendices, and index. $65.00 cloth (ISBN: 978-1-58826-904-1) With increased attention on BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and other emerging economies, it is often easy to overlook those few nations–Cuba and North Korea- that cling to a centrally-planned economy and a strong ideological posture that guides political and economic decisions. In this carefully crafted work by two leading economists and Cubanologists, three key questions guide this investigation. First, what are the antecedents that led President Raúl Castro after 2008 to introduce efforts to increase the private sector? Second, what are the barriers to introducing those reforms? Third, how effective have they been? The book begins with a succinct overview of economic development over the 53 years following the 1959 Revolution. Using a dichotomous framework that classifies economic cycles into “idealist” ones in which policies move away from market orientation, and “pragmatist” ones, that are more market-oriented, [End Page 245] Mesa-Lago and Pérez-López detail eight cycles that characterize this 53-year period. Seven social and economic indicators anchor their review of each cycle: monetary liquidity, economic growth, fiscal deficit, open unemployment, trade balance deficit, poverty incidence, and income distribution. The most interesting aspect of the review includes the tensions between Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s admiration of Mao’s Great Leap Forward, and the pro-Soviet faction led by Cuban economist Carlos Rafael Rodríguez. Also noteworthy is the level to which Cuba had hitched its economic fortune to the former USSR and its trading bloc; some $65 billion of price subsidies and soft loans benefited Cuba from 1960–1990. Although Fidel Castro played a central role in starting and stopping each cycle, “the decisions to slow, halt, or reverse pragmatist cycles and return to idealist cycles…were driven…by fear on the part of Fidel and the political leadership of losing political control” (p. 25). The review of the domestic economy of 2006–2012 shows that no country was capable of insulating itself from the global shocks of the recession, especially a small island of 11 million. A global drop in the demand for Cuban cigars, the country’s purchase of more than 8,000 Chinese Yutong buses, the legalization of cell phone sales to ordinary Cubans, and the laying down of a fiber optic cable between Venezuela and the island are a few highlights of this period. Mother Nature was also unkind to the island (hurricanes) at this time. We learn that Cuba exports most of its coffee and “imports quality beans from Brazil and other countries” (p. 63). Noteworthy too is the litany of resource mismanagement statistics such as the five-fold increase in calf-mortality between 1989 and 2005, a lack of agricultural fencing and chemical inputs, and the loss of some 600 million cubic meters of water annually because of leaks in the distribution system. By 2011, domestic production and export output was between 11–96 percent of 1989 levels for twenty key products for domestic consumption and export (69). Mesa-Lago and Pérez-López point out that the Cuban government’s long-standing practice of blaming poor agricultural performance on outside factors such as the US embargo, drought, excessive rainfall, was suddenly reversed. As Raúl noted, the country “has highlighted the primacy of internal factors …[but we need to consider] the concentration of land in the state sector and in the basic units of cooperative production and the agricultural cooperatives” (71). The book’s review on international economic relations underscores the huge void that Venezuela has played in supplying Cuba with free or low-cost oil, while the Cubans export professional medical personnel in exchange. That Nicolás Maduro–the successor to the Hugo Chávez Bolivarian revolution—will be hard pressed to continue such a subsidy given the high inflation in Venezuela and mounting internal political opposition...

Revolution in the Revolution: Recent Developments in the Cuban Economy

Revolution in the RevolutionRecent Developments in the Cuban Economy Archibald R. M. Ritter ¿Quo vadis, Cuba? La incierta senda de las reformas. Edited by José Antonio Alonso and Pavel Vidal. Madrid: Los Libros de la Catarata, 2013. Pp. 302. ISBN: 9788483198322. Cuban Economists on the Cuban Economy. Edited by Al Campbell. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2013. Pp. xvii + 337. $79.95 cloth. ISBN: 9780813044231. Cuban Economic and Social Development: Policy Reforms and Challenges in the 21st Century. Edited by Jorge I. Domínguez, Omar Everleny Pérez Villa-nueva, Mayra Espina Prieto, and Lorena Barberia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Pp. iii + 333. $24.99 paper. ISBN: 9780674062436. Cuba since the Revolution of 1959: A Critical Assessment. By Samuel Farber. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2011. Pp. ix + 369. $24.00 paper. ISBN: 9781608461394. Cuban Revelations: Behind the Scenes in Havana. By Marc Frank. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2013. Pp. iii + 327. $29.95 cloth. ISBN: 9780813044651. Cuba under Raúl Castro: Assessing the Reforms. By Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Jorge Pérez-López. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2013. Pp. xv + 295. $65.00 cloth. ISBN: 9781588269041. When President Fidel Castro experienced a medical emergency on July 31, 2006, First Vice President Raúl Castro assumed the role of acting president and was then declared president in February 2008 by the National Assembly. Hopes for change were high relative to the almost half century of Fidel’s presidency, because Raúl was considered to be more pragmatic than Fidel. During the first years of Raúl’s acting and then full presidency, policy changes were modest, uncertain, and hesitant. However, after deliberation and some policy experimentation, the pace of reform accelerated in 2010. In his first major speech in July 2007, Raúl acknowledged the difficulties that the economy faced and the dimension of the reform effort that would be needed to overcome its problems. “To have more, we have to begin by producing more, with a sense of rationality and efficiency, so that we may reduce imports, especially of food products—that may be grown here—whose domestic production is still a long way away from meeting the needs of the population.”1 This contrasted with [End Page 246] the complacency of the last years of the Fidel era. Raúl emphasized the necessity of improving agriculture as well as industry and mentioned the possibility of increasing direct foreign investment. He discussed “social indiscipline” and the expansion of the underground economy. He assured citizens that the government was studying these issues and would soon introduce appropriate policies. In subsequent speeches—shorter and less frequent than those of his elder brother—Raúl demonstrated increased pragmatism and decreased ideological rigidity. He also has shown an awareness of the need to break with some traditional Cuban economic institutions and policies. Such change was ultimately necessary in his view for political reasons, to ensure the long-term viability of Cuba as an independent nation. He affirmed: “We are facing unpleasant realities, but we do not close our eyes to them. We are convinced that we need to break away from dogmas and assume firmly and confidently the ongoing upgrading of our economic model in order to set the foundations of the irreversibility of Cuban socialism and its development, which we know is the guarantee of our national sovereignty and independence.”2 He did not view such changes as adoption of any sort of capitalism but instead considered it an “updating” or “modernization” (actualización) of Cuban socialism. However, Raúl’s concept of socialism reflected a change from the fidelista view: it no longer implied an aspiration to equal outcomes. “Socialism means social justice and equality, but equality of rights and opportunities, not salaries. Equality does not mean egalitarianism. This is, in the end, another form of exploitation, that of the exploitation of the responsible worker by the one who is not, or even worse, by the slothful.”3 Raúl also emphasized that policy changes were to be introduced with deliberativeness and caution. This was certainly the approach prior to mid-2010. The major reforms of 2010 began with the proposal to downsize employment in the state sector...

Review of <em>World Crisis Effects on Social Security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and Policies.</em> Carmelo Mesa-Lago. Reviewed by Vladimir Rys.

Review of <em>World Crisis Effects on Social Security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and Policies.</em> Carmelo Mesa-Lago. Reviewed by Vladimir Rys.

World crisis effects on social security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and policies - By Carmelo Mesa-Lago

Revista Internacional de Seguridad SocialVolume 64, Issue 2 p. 123-127 World crisis effects on social security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and policies – By Carmelo Mesa-Lago Hedva Sarfati, Hedva Sarfati Consultora independiente, SuizaSearch for more papers by this author Hedva Sarfati, Hedva Sarfati Consultora independiente, SuizaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 June 2011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-1734.2011.01395.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume64, Issue2abril‐junio 2011Pages 123-127 RelatedInformation

World crisis effects on social security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and policies - By Carmelo Mesa-Lago

Internationale Revue für Soziale SicherheitVolume 64, Issue 2 p. 121-125 World crisis effects on social security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and policies – By Carmelo Mesa-Lago Hedva Sarfati, Hedva Sarfati Unabhängige Beraterin SchweizSearch for more papers by this author Hedva Sarfati, Hedva Sarfati Unabhängige Beraterin SchweizSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 June 2011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-1726.2011.01395.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume64, Issue2April‐June 2011Pages 121-125 RelatedInformation

World crisis effects on social security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and policies - By Carmelo Mesa-Lago

World crisis effects on social security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and policies - By Carmelo Mesa-Lago

World crisis effects on social security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and policies - By Carmelo Mesa-Lago

World crisis effects on social security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and policies - By Carmelo Mesa-Lago

Social Policy Reforms in Latin America: Urgent but Frustrating

Development, Democracy, and Welfare States: Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe. By Stephan Haggard and Robert R. Kaufman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008. Pp. xxvi + 473. $80.00 cloth, $29.95 paper. Lessons from Pension Reform in the Americas. Edited by Stephen J. Kay and Tapen Sinha. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Pp. xxiv + 421. $110.00 cloth. Reassembling Social Security: A Survey of Pensions and Healthcare Reforms in Latin America. By Carmelo Mesa-Lago. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Pp. xi + 453. $150.00 cloth. Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean. By Ricardo Paes de Barros, Francisco H. G. Ferreira, Jose R. Molinas Vega, and Jaime Saavedra Chanduvi. Washington, D.C.: Palgrave Macmillan and World Bank/2009. Pp. xxiii + 195. $90.00 paper. Caring for Them from Birth to Death: The Practice of CommunityBased Cuban Medicine. By Christina Perez. New York: Lexington Books, 2008. Pp. xviii + 315. $70.00 cloth.

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this issue. L'esprit de Philadelphie. La justice sociale face au marché total. By Alain SUPIOT. Les droits fondamentaux au travail. Origines, statut et impact en droit international. By Claire LA HOVARY. Child labour in a globalized world: A legal analysis of ILO action. Edited by Giuseppe NESI, Luca NOGLER and Marco PERTILE. Flexibility of labour in globalizing India: The challenge of skills and technology. By Jeemol UNNI and Uma RANI. World crisis effects on social security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and policies. By Carmelo MESA‐LAGO.

Carmelo Mesa-Lago, World Crisis Effects on Social Security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and Policies (London: Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London, 2010), pp. vii+111, £20.00, pb.

Carmelo Mesa-Lago, World Crisis Effects on Social Security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and Policies (London: Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London, 2010), pp. vii+111, £20.00, pb. - Volume 42 Issue 3

Review of <em>Reassembling Social Security: A Survey of Pensions and Health Care Reforms in Latin America.</em> Carmelo Mesa-Lago. Reviewed by James Midgley

Review of <em>Reassembling Social Security: A Survey of Pensions and Health Care Reforms in Latin America.</em> Carmelo Mesa-Lago. Reviewed by James Midgley