The Road Not Taken: Pre-Revolutionary Cuban Living Standards in Comparative Perspective

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Loyola University Maryland; City University of New York (CUNY) System; Queens College NY (CUNY)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050711002452
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 104-133
• 关键词: latin-america; real gdp; income; TRADE; decline; GROWTH; terms

摘要

We examine Cuban GDP over time and across space. We find that Cuba was once a prosperous middle-income economy. On the eve of the revolution, incomes were 50 to 60 percent of European levels. They were among the highest in Latin America at about 30 percent of the United States. In relative terms, Cuba was richer earlier on. Income per capita during the 1920s was in striking distance of Western Europe and the Southern United States. After the revolution, Cuba slipped down the world income distribution. Current levels of income per capita appear below their pre-revolutionary peaks.