On Cuba's budgetary finance system. A critique of Helen Yaffe's account Online publication date: Wed, 20-Apr-2011
by Alejandro Agafonow
International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy (IJMCP), Vol. 5, No. 1, 2011
Abstract: This article offers a critique of the budgetary finance system (BFS) conceived by Ernesto Che Guevara, as well as Helen Yaffe's recent account of it. We build on the economic theory of market socialism to analyse four key aspects of the BFS: investments, incentives, quality, and entrepreneurship. It is our contention that the BFS was virtually impossible, in the sense that it could not be reasonably expected that the BFS marginally allocated non-primary goods to those persons most in need or who valued them the most. We maintain that the unified control of factors of production rocketed 'diminishing returns to management' and weakened the effectiveness of the mixture of moral and material levers; that Cuban directors lacked entrepreneurship because, in the absence of a market, they were blind to their functions of running Consolidated Enterprises and, in addition, the system of moral compulsion fostered a powerful discouragement for them.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy (IJMCP):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook