Professor Bradford DeLong has this pointer:
You take a look at the standard Human Development Indicator variables–GDP per capita, infant mortality, education–and you try to throw together an HDI for Cuba in the late 1950s, and you come out in the range of Japan, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Israel. Today? Today the UN puts Cuba’s HDI in the range of Lithuania, Trinidad, and Mexico…Thus I don’t understand lefties who talk about the achievements of the Cuban Revolution: “…to have better health care, housing, education, and general social relations than virtually all other comparably developed countries.” Yes, Cuba today has a GDP per capita level roughly that of–is “comparably developed”–Bolivia or Honduras or Zimbabwe, but given where Cuba was in 1957 we ought to be talking about how it is as developed as Italy or Spain.
3 comments
Comments feed for this article
February 25, 2008 at 6:12 pm
fug
But an admirer of Cuba wouldnt really accord the HDI any essential value as a tool for civilisational shaping or as a vector measure for ‘development’.
It would score highly for UYC (Up Yours Capitalism) and OOOS (On Our Own Steam)… maybe more importantly ND (National Dignity). Gotta love the way the thousands of spanners that the US have put in the Cuban works dont get a mention. So maybe Cuba should be awarded a high score for DYFMW (Despite Your Fiendish Meddling Ways).
My favourite thing about his retirement was the red adidas top he had on whilst announcing it. What was that all about?
February 25, 2008 at 9:41 pm
shamshir
That, Fugstar bhai, is the definition of cutting off one’s nose to spite the face.
February 26, 2008 at 1:44 pm
fug
i dont understand.^
what was the nose, who’s was it an what was the act of cutting it and what was the face?
its probably petty to remark on the tracksuit, but it did make me laugh, maybe it was some clever one fingured salute to consumerism…