ABSTRACT
There is an apocryphal story that, after the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro got his associates together to form the cabinet. He asked whether there was an economist among them. Che Guevara put up his hand and so became the first person in charge of the Cuban economy. When after a while things were not going so well for the Cuban economy, Fidel admonished Che and asked why things had gone wrong and how as an economist he would explain this. Astonished, Che replied that he knew nothing of economics. Fidel asked, ‘why then did you put up your hand when I asked at our first meeting who was an economist among us?’ Che said ‘Oh, I thought you asked who was a communist among us, not an economist!’.
