We summarize the history of the Cuban economic enclave of Miami, from it to the present. The uniqueness of the story lies not only in the emergence o nomenon and its early consequences but also in its bifurcation following t of the March boatlift of 1980. We examine the reasons for the split between waves of Cuban exiles arriving in the 1960s and 1970s and subsequent ref the basis of census data, we are able to document the economic evolution of and Cuban American population of the Miami metropolitan area, the signific in economic returns in favor of entrepreneurs, and the wide gap in personal incomes between pre-1980 Cubans and their children and those coming after Reasons why Mariel and post-Mariel Cubans have done much more poorly entrepreneurs and as workers in the Miami labor market are examined. Implic the educational attainment and social adaptation of their US-bom children, th generation, are documented on the basis of data from the Children of Immig gitudinal Study (CILS).