“Next to bombing, rent control seems in many cases to be the most efficient technique so far known for destroying cities.” Assar Lindbeck (1971, p. 39)
Cubans commonly practiced almost every unhealthy habit. They ride motorcycles, they don’t wear seatbelts, and they walk in traffic. I saw a motorcyclist drinking a beer and driving by a policewoman, with no consequence. They eat lots of eggs. Cigarettes are cheap and people smoke. I doubt any of the vehicles would pass EPA emission standards. An oil refinery operates in Havana and spews out far more smoke than a stack in, say, Joliet IL. Nutrition was poor in the 1990s, when starvation was a real concern....
Perhaps the main effect of the Revolution was to change the way that Cuba reported life expectancy to international organizations.
This is eye-popping. Labor takes home about 63% of national income in the US, and we think it's a crisis, since it used to be about 67% (I really don't know if it's appropriate to compare the two directly, but it must mean something, given that we're talking an entire order of magnitude). What a workers' paradise it must be, when 95% of productive value is taken by the government!