Cuba's Entrepreneurs: Foundation of a New Private Sector

Cuba’s entrepreneurs were viewed as a necessary evil in the 1990’s and as a strategic necessity now.

They are essential to the government’s goals of cutting its own “inflated payrolls,” building a larger private sector, and improving productivity and fiscal balance. This paper (pdf) examines the new policies that have enabled Cuba’s entrepreneurial ranks nearly to triple since 2010 and the policies that hold them back still, and looks at issues surrounding the larger “non-state” sector that must grow well beyond small-scale entrepreneurship if the government’s own goals are to be met.

Click here to view the full report as a PDF file.