[lbo-talk] Cuban HDI

[Michael McIntyre]

The Human Development Index incorporates per capita GDP as one of its
three key indicators.  Since Cuban per capita GDP is very low, that
measure pulls it down the HDI index.  If the index were based solely on
the health (life expectancy and infant mortality) and literacy
indicators, Cuba would be way out in front of the rest of Latin America.

Cuba isn't the only place to present this kind of profile.  So does Sri
Lanka, to some degree, as well as the case Amartya Sen made famous, the
indian state of Kerala.  So: (1) Cuba does deserve high marks for
improving the life chances of its citizens, but (2) a revolution, let
alone a revolution that installs a police state and a personalistic
dictatorship, appears not to be a necessary condition for gains of this
sort.

On the other hand, had the Cuban Revolution not installed a police state
and a personalistic dictatorship, it's quite possible that it wouldn't
have survived the decades of U.S. assault in order to make those gains.