How can Soviet aid to the Cuban economy be measured? A new proposal

Trade between the former Soviet Union (USSR) and Cuba during the period before the collapse of the Socialist bloc has been the subject of many studies, which have attempted to qualtify that commerce in US dollars without taking into account the peculiarities of the relations between the Socialist countries that were members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). This research has drawn on official sources (from the Office of Statistics and the Banco Nacional de Cuba) to remedy the methodological errors that result from overlooking those peculiarities, and proposes a new metric for the aid received by Cuba from the USSR.