Cuba’s economy is distinct in the Caribbean: a socialist system that has been gradually opening to private enterprise and foreign investment. Miguel Díaz-Canel took office as president in April 2018, succeeding Raúl Castro.
A new constitution, proclaimed on 10 April 2019, kept the Communist Party’s leading role while recognizing private property and foreign investment for the first time. The reforms of recent years, including the widening of permitted private-sector activities, make Cuba a live case study in economic transition.
Havana, the capital, hosts the country’s main universities and research centers. Students of economics can study the Cuban model alongside the region’s market economies, though access to data and programmes requires direct contact with the institutions. The original version of this article named a specific socialist-economics degree in Havana and cited employment and growth statistics that could not be verified. Those claims have been removed.
Related economics reading on this site includes the guides to Caribbean energy economics in Port of Spain, transition economics in Kyiv, and microstate economics in Vaduz.

