Joseph E. Stiglitz — How Costa Rica Gets It Right

How has a country of under five million people become a world leader in developing holistic policies that promote democratic, sustainable, and inclusive economic growth? The answer lies in its people's belief that focusing on the welfare of all citizens not only enhances wellbeing, but also increases productivity.

Project Syndicate
How Costa Rica Gets It Right

Joseph E. Stiglitz | Nobel laureate in economics, University Professor at Columbia University, and Chief Economist at the Roosevelt Institute

Andrew Korybko — 21st-Century Geopolitics of Central America: Local Characteristics and Integration Models

The research has now progressed to outlining the prevailing characteristics of Central America and listing the relevant regional integration organizations that its constituent countries are a part of. The first part of this chapter is divided among the four categories of economic, socio-political, military-security, and geopolitical commonalities which bind together Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, and is presented in a concise bullet-point format for easy reading, while the second half enumerates the pertinent multilateral organizations that that these six states have joined and elaborates a bit about each one. The point here is to emphasize the factors of convergence, some of which are historical and were already introduced in the previous chapter, which allow for one to speak about Central America as a distinct geopolitical landmass separate from its Northern and Southern neighbors.

As organized by sphere, here’s what the Central American states share in common, followed by a few germane geopolitical observations which will help reinforce the reader’s understanding of this region’s 21st-century geopolitical dynamics:

• Economic
• Socio-Political
• Military-Security
• Geopolitical
• Regional Integration Organizations

Geopolitica
21st-Century Geopolitics of Central America: Local Characteristics and Integration Models

Andrew Korybko | American political analyst and journalist for Sputnik studying at the Moscow State University of International Relations

Also

21st-Century Geopolitics Of Central America: Geographic And Historical Review

21st-Century Geopolitics Of Central America: Grand Strategy

Ellen Brown — Public Banking in Costa Rica: A Remarkable Little-known Model

In Costa Rica, publicly-owned banks have been available for so long and work so well that people take for granted that any country that knows how to run an economy has a public banking option. Costa Ricans are amazed to hear there is only one public depository bank in the United States (the Bank of North Dakota), and few people have private access to it....

Web of Debt
Public Banking in Costa Rica: A Remarkable Little-known Model
Ellen Brown