Reflections on Costa Rica

Now that I have had a few days in country, I thought it was time to sit down and reflect on some things. It will be interesting to me to go back in a couple of months and see how much my ideas and opinions have changed. I have largely been surprised by how little actually has surprised me. However there are certainly questions that I can’t get my head around.

Costa Rica is sometimes called the “Switzerland of Central America” for good reason. They have a vibrant and healthy democracy, a responsible, constitutionally limited government and a respectable, even admirable, judiciary. None the less, and this is only one of what I am sure are several ethno-centristic opinions that I have contemplated, I have found myself saying, “If this is Switzerland, I would hate to see the Albania of Central America.”

Costa Rica is poor, but why is it poor and what, underpinning the many social and political conflicts and policies that have hindered growth in the region and the tropics generally, does this place with a system as free and robust as the US once had, still suffer from whatever it is that retards growth for most nations in this climate. I was struck initially by the apparent poverty, but as I spend more time here I realize that the poverty is almost a veneer for a rather good quality of life. Although the cars are mostly 10 years out of date, there is still no shortage of brand new versions of the hottest cars available in the international market. There are new streets and new buildings, but they stand starkly against razor wire and cracked side walks. I look across the city and can’t help but think that over 55 years of freedom and it has resulted in what looks like urban Peoria Illinois in 1985 with a twist of East L.A.

Yet I am genuinely comfortable here. It is familiar and in some way that disappoints me. I have sometimes been known to jokingly, and lovingly, refer to Canada as America Light. Costa Rica is, in its way, also rather like that. It is certainly less different then Western Europe, if for no other reason then the pipeline is shorter from Wall Street and Hollywood. People live behind razor wire and rottweilers, but so do people in the best neighborhoods in the States, so that’s no surprise. None the less, I am genuinely curious about the structural factors that prevent Costa Ricans from achieving the same level of material success. I have several opinions of my own as well as various experts and will be posting occasionally on my thoughts about this fundamental question of political economy, “Why are some places rich, and others just suck?” (to borrow from O’Rourke) More specifically, to what degree is it within the conscience ability of individuals and organizations to change the factors in order to increase wealth, jobs and prosperity in places like, or dissimilar from, Costa Rica, and to what degree is it a positive, or negative, pursuit? By that I mean, how much is institution-building and how much is it a matter of eliminating barriers to individual success? What about cultural factors? Can they be overcome? Should they? By what standard do we measure?

I would love to get opinions on these issues, feel free to post a comment or e-mail me if you guys so desire.