Editing History of Cuba (section)

====Economic expansion and stagnation====
Although corruption was rife under Batista, Cuba did flourish economically. Wages rose significantly;<ref name="gonzalez"/> according to the [[International Labour Organization]], the average industrial salary in Cuba was the world's eighth-highest in 1958, and the average agricultural wage was higher than in developed nations such as [[Denmark]] and [[France]].<ref name="gonzalez">{{Cite book|title=The Secret Fidel Castro|author=Servando Gonzalez}}</ref><ref name="beforecastro"/> Although a third of the population still lived in poverty (according to Batista's government), Cuba was one of the five most developed countries in Latin America by the end of the Batista era,<ref name="heroic">{{Cite news|title=The Cuban revolution at 50: Heroic myth and prosaic failure|date=30 December 2008|newspaper=The Economist|url=http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12851254|access-date=27 July 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120920/http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12851254|archive-date=20 September 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> with 56% of the population [[urbanization|living in cities]].<ref name="Paterson-Contesting"/>

In the 1950s, Cuba's [[gross domestic product]] (GDP) per capita was roughly equal to that of contemporary Italy, although still only a sixth as large as that of the United States.<ref name="gonzalez"/> Labour rights were also favourable{{snd}}Cuban workers were entitled to a month's paid holiday, nine days' sick leave with pay, and [[maternity leave|six weeks' leave]] before and after childbirth.<ref name="unnecessary"/> Cuba had Latin America's highest per capita consumption rates of meat, vegetables, cereals, automobiles, telephones and radios during this period.<ref name="beforecastro"/><ref name="unnecessary">{{Cite web|title=Cuba: The Unnecessary Revolution|url=http://www.neoliberalismo.com/unnecesary.htm|publisher=Neoliberalismo.com|access-date=17 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150422233141/http://www.neoliberalismo.com/unnecesary.htm|archive-date=22 April 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Lewis"/>{{Rp|[https://books.google.com/books?id%3DLAvw-YXm4TsC&pg%3DPA186 186]}} Havana was the world's fourth-most-expensive city at the time.<ref name="Bethell-Cuba"/> Moreover, Cuba's health service was remarkably developed. By the late 1950s, it had one of the highest numbers of doctors per capita{{snd}} more than in the [[United Kingdom]] at that time{{snd}} and the third-lowest adult [[mortality rate]]. According to the [[World Health Organization]], the island had the lowest [[infant mortality rate]] in Latin America, and the 13th-lowest in the world.<ref name="beforecastro">{{Cite web|title=Cuba Before Fidel Castro|url=http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/cubaprecastro21698.html|work=Contacto|access-date=27 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608164200/http://www2.fiu.edu/~fcf/cubaprecastro21698.html|archive-date=8 June 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="comparison">{{cite web|url=http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/ca/cuba/asce/cuba8/30smith.pdf|title=Renaissance and decay: A comparison of socioeconomic indicators in pre-Castro and current-day Cuba|author1=Kirby Smith|author2=Hugo Llorens|access-date=21 June 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090713105818/http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/ca/cuba/asce/cuba8/30smith.pdf|archive-date=13 July 2009}}</ref><ref name="stuckoncastro">{{cite web|url=http://www.reason.com/news/show/125095.html|title=Still Stuck on Castro – How the press handled a tyrant's farewell|work=Reason|date=22 February 2008 |access-date=27 July 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120920/http://www.reason.com/news/show/125095.html|archive-date=20 September 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> Cuba's education spending in the 1950s was the highest in Latin America, relative to GDP.<ref name="beforecastro"/> Cuba had the fourth-highest [[literacy rate]] in the region, at almost 80% according to the United Nations{{snd}} higher than that of Spain at the time.<ref name="cubafacts43">{{Cite web|url=http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2043%20December.htm|title=Cuba Facts: Issue 43|publisher=Cuba Transition Project|date=December 2008|access-date=6 February 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709162710/http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2043%20December.htm|archive-date=9 July 2012}}</ref><ref name="comparison"/><ref name="stuckoncastro"/>{{disputed|date=August 2019}}

However, the United States, rather than Latin America, was the frame of reference for educated Cubans.<ref name="Bethell-Cuba"/><ref name="Paterson-Contesting"/> Middle-class Cubans grew frustrated at the economic gap between Cuba and the US,<ref name="Bethell-Cuba"/> and increasingly dissatisfied with the administration.<ref name="Bethell-Cuba"/><ref name="Dominquez-Cuba"/> Large income disparities arose due to the extensive privileges enjoyed by Cuba's unionized workers.<ref name="baklanoff"/> Cuban labour unions had established limitations on mechanization and even banned dismissals in some factories.<ref name="unnecessary"/> The labour unions' privileges were obtained in large measure "at the cost of the unemployed and the peasants".<ref name="baklanoff">{{Cite journal|title=Cuba on the eve of the socialist transition: A reassessment of the backwardness-stagnation thesis|author=Eric N. Baklanoff|journal=Cuba in Transition|url=http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/ca/cuba/asce/cuba8/31baklanoff.pdf|access-date=21 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090713105752/http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/ca/cuba/asce/cuba8/31baklanoff.pdf|archive-date=13 July 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Cuba's labour regulations ultimately caused economic stagnation. Hugh Thomas asserts that "militant unions succeeded in maintaining the position of unionized workers and, consequently, made it difficult for capital to improve efficiency."<ref name="Thomas-Cuba">{{Cite book|title=Cuba, The Pursuit of Freedom|author=Hugh Thomas|page=1173}}</ref> Between 1933 and 1958, Cuba increased economic regulation enormously.<ref name="Dominquez-Cuba"/> The regulation led to declining investment.<ref name="Dominquez-Cuba"/> The [[World Bank]] also complained that the Batista administration raised the tax burden without assessing its impact. Unemployment was high; many university graduates could not find jobs.<ref name="Dominquez-Cuba"/> After its earlier meteoric rise, the Cuban gross domestic product grew at only 1% annually on average between 1950 and 1958.<ref name="Paterson-Contesting">{{Cite book|title=Contesting Castro|author=Thomas G. Paterson}}</ref>