This tweet is short and sweet, but, as Polonius said in Hamlet, “Brevity is the soul of wit.”

Since I’ve written several indictments of Cuba’s decrepit economic performance (see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), I obviously agree with @RazorFist.

There’s no need to regurgitate all that analysis. Instead, I want to present some new evidence.

When Castro took control of Cuba back in 1959, it was somewhat prosperous by Latin American standards. It’s per-capita GDP was nearly $3,000, which compared favorably to the Dominican Republic, a nearby island nation, where per-capita GDP was just a bit over $2,200.

But take a look at this chart, based on the Maddison database. Cuba has lagged under communism and the Dominican Republic now enjoys more than two times as much per-capita GDP.

Incidentally, the Dominican Republic is hardly a star performer on economic policy. It barely ranks in the top 50 according to Economic Freedom of the World.

But it partially liberalized its economy during the Washington Consensus, so at least it has mediocre economic policy.

And the moral of today’s story is that mediocre economic policy is better than terrible economic policy.

And if you look at my comparisons of Cuba with Taiwan and Hong Kong. you’ll also see that good economic policy utterly crushes when compared to terrible economic policy.

P.S. I’ll add the above chart to my Anti-Convergence Club.

P.P.S. I have utter disdain for leftists (see here, here, here, and here) who defend or support Cuba’s totalitarian government.