Abstract: Carmelo Mesa Lago "Comparing two socialist approaches: Cuba and China-Vietnam": Cuba's central plan with large state-owned enterprises dominant over the market and private property-timid and incomplete market-oriented reforms have failed, and the successful Sino-Vietnamese "socialist market" where small, medium, and some large private enterprises and the market predominate under a decentralized plan, with the state regulating the economy and controlling the largest enterprises. The main chapter compares the characteristics and performance of the countries with respect to the six principles of social security developed by the ILO: unity and equal treatment, coverage and access, benefit sufficiency, social solidarity and gender equity, administrative efficiency and tripartite administration, and financial-actuarial sustainability. The book ends with conclusions and recommendations to improve social security systems in the three countries.
