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Dollarization, Distortion, and the Transformation of Work

Emma Phillips

April 25, 2008

Dollarization, Distortion, and  the Transformation of Work in Font, Mauricio A. (ed) Changing Cuba in a Changing World  (Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies; New York, 2008), chapter 20

This paper looks at Cuba’s new  labour  context and assesses the choices facing workers  in a constantly shifting  constellation  of  income-earning  options,  including  work  in  the formal state sector, a newly established “private” sector, and/or growing informal and black markets. It examines  the  options  available  to Cuban  workers  and  the  strategic  decisions  they  must  make  to  determine where  best  to  devote  their  labour time  and  energy.  At  the  same  time,  it asks  what  consequences  the  changing  nature  of  “work”  in  Cuba  has  for citizen-state relationships, and how the reconceptualization of work may affect  broader  models  of  citizenship and  political  governance.

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Emma Phillips