Interesting video on how Poland made the transition from a communist economy to a market economy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY3rC3DTtaE&nofeather=True"]Poland: Prudence and Prosperity - YouTube
One of the things that helped Poland was that their approach to privatization was more successful in comparison to some of the other former eastern bloc nations. They had an approach that avoided many of the problems that came with those other countries move to privatization. Poland's Privatization method:
Another former communist country that has fairly successfully made the transition from communism to capitalism is Estonia. Rushing to Capitalism, Estonia Trounces Its Ex-Soviet Mates / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com Anyway with the examples set by these two countries doesn't this hurt the appeal of communism? Why stay with communism or go back to it when these two countries have shown how to make capitalism work? I hope Cuba will look at these two countries to learn some lessons for making their transition to a market economy which will happen in the coming future.
Cuba needs to become a democracy before they're going to be able to make capitalism work, since they will be cut off from one of the richest and largest markets in the world.
Yes they do need to sort out a democratic system for themsleves. But a country can have capitalism without a democracy similar to what China is known for. I once read an article where the author said that it may be better to have capitalism first because the wealth that can be created from capitalism will build a strong middle class in a country that will make them less dependent on an authoritarian government which would then make the move to democracy easier. This is what may be happening in China.
