Published July 8th, 2009 by Future Atlas
Cuba’s Potential
Writing in the July Wired, Clive Thompson suggests why Cuba could prosper in the future:
- Educational levels are high for a developing country, with nearly 100% adult literacy; a third of adults have high school diplomas. One of five young Cubans is said to graduate from college.
- Cuba could be convenient for offshoring, as Cubans have skills that could be applied to programming, many have studied English, and the island is only an hour away from Miami by plane.
- Cuba has strengths in biotechnology and medicine, creating an opportunity for health tourism.
- Low use of pesticides makes much of Cuba’s agriculture “organic-ready.”
Thompson notes the need for Cuba to open up to enable this potential; an end to the American embargo would also be necessary.
Though Thompson compares Cuba to Ireland, the comparison is inexact: Ireland in the 1980s was much better educated and wealthier than Cuba is, and it was also English-speaking and capitalist.
In addition to the factors Thompson discusses, at least two others are present:
- Cuban Americans could be a source of large-scale investment capital.
- Cuba’s sugar industry and biotech skills could make it competitive in biofuels, though access to the American market would have to overcome the objections of the US sugar and ethanol lobbies.