ABSTRACT
Current transformations in Cuba’s economy are a response to and framed by the limitations of its socialist model of economic development. This model is built on several fundamental concepts including the prominent role of the government in the economy; extensive economic regulation and direction, in which planning plays a central, if not excessive, role; the prominence of political leadership; the priority of the social sphere; and an ideological framework anchored in US–Cuba relations. As early as 2007, leading Cuban officials identified structural problems weighing down possibilities for growth and promoted an updating of the economic model.
