ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief overview of the progression of economic regulation, and describes the inefficient model that was attempted as a result of the institutionalization process of the 1970s and the ways in which it has already been altered since 1989. It discusses the laws and regulations governing joint-ventures, or "mixed" enterprises as they are called in Cuba, which provide a vehicle for foreign investment in Cuba that, may enhance international trade as well as the development of the internal economy. Cuba adopted a system of state arbitration in 1977 to assure compliance with the national economic plan and to resolve contract and commercial conflicts between enterprises. State arbitration in socialist economies is as fundamentally different from arbitration in capitalist systems in its purpose and function as is the economic system it supports. Private contract law is the fundamental regulatory device that enables competitive markets to function.
