Tesis para optar al grado de Magíster en Análisis Económico / En la presente investigación se estima para Costa Rica un modelo estructural de equilibrio general dinámico estocástico (EGDE) utilizando métodos bayesianos. Se trata de explicar si es efectiva la adopción de las metas de inflación como mecanismo de política monetaria para disminuir la volatilidad de la inflación y del producto. Se realizaron estimaciones para dos períodos con distinto régimen cambiario: tipo de cambio fijo controlado por minidevaluaciones y tipo de cambio flexible con bandas cambiarias. Los resultados obtenidos indican que la respuesta a la regla de política monetaria del producto, la inflación y el tipo de cambio es muy distinta dependiendo del tipo de régimen cambiario que predomine. De esta manera la implementación del régimen de metas de inflación puede generar efectos diferentes sobre la volatilidad de estas variables macroeconómicas las cuales en su mayoría presentan menor volatilidad en el periodo de tipo de cambio flexible.

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This dissertation undertakes a comprehensive analysis of the Costa Rican banana industry, including a case study based on fieldwork at an independent banana plantation in Costa Rica's Atlantic zone. A basic premise is that a coherent understanding of the banana industry and its consequences can only be achieved through the appreciation of the complexity of its organization. That is, the Costa Rican banana industry is a political-economic, socio-cultural, and environmental system articulated through a high degree of interaction at the micro and macro levels. Modernization and world systems theories are shown to provide partial and insufficient accounts of the dynamics at work in the Costa Rican banana industry. An embedded model of world systems theory, which includes aspects of sustainable development, is proposed to address these concerns. The analysis at various levels is intended to support the argument that consideration of environmental dynamics must be addressed in future theoretical accounts of development. / Following world systems theory, the strong role of the banana transnationals within the industry and in relation to national development is examined. Other links between the Costa Rican banana industry and the broader international political economy are also examined, including the 'banana wars', as well as environmental issues, such as DBCP and other agrochemical usage. Significant changes in the Costa Rican banana industry since the 1980's are considered. These include: (1) a sharp increase in banana production, and an increase in independent banana producers, (2) the dissolution of the banana unions, and their replacement with a new system of labour relations (solidarismo); and (3) the recent concern for issues of environmental destruction. These changes, combined with the centrality of the banana industry to Costa Rican development, have resulted in significant consequences at the micro level. These are manifested in the organization of banana production and in operations on the plantation, as seen with respect to working conditions, quality control and of transnational power. In addition, environmental degradation, and underdevelopment and marginalization beyond the plantation are examined as direct consequences of the Costa Rican banana industry. This is supported with extensive ethnographic detail.

A major environmental concern throughout the tropics is deforestation. While many forests are in a state of crisis, such an encompassing narrative can obscure significant instances where forest-cover expands. This research investigates the geography of forest regeneration in rural Costa Rica from a social and institutional perspective. Attracted to the Pacific coast, foreigners purchase farms, change the patterns of land ownership, and extensively promote secondary forest growth. Environmental change and a declining agriculture sector have forced peasants to sell or abandon land and diversify their livelihoods. Two conservation NGOs collaborate at an institutional level to promote reforestation and consolidate protected properties into the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. Drawing on foreign funding, they serve as an avenue through which external visions of land management become reproduced locally. This case illustrates how the values and management decisions of a constellation of actors synergistically interlink to influence local land-use and ultimately join to expand forest-cover.

Despite the growth of secondary cities, there is still little written about these intermediate cities in the literature. This thesis addresses this gap by examining the growth of Puntarenas, one such secondary city in Costa Rica. / Within the framework of dependency theory and an historical background, this case study examines several factors which have affected the development of this city over the last three decades. An undiversified economy based on fishing, migration patterns, and Puntarenas' dependent relationship with the capital, San Jose, are analyzed in depth. / The study, which is based on interviews, statistical data, and published literature, suggests that although there has been some effort to limit the concentration of resources in the centre of the country and to develop secondary cities, these cities continue to be neglected by central powers and, for the most part, are only taken into account when they serve the interests of the centre.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Northern Illinois University, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [219]-227).

Magíster en Gestión y Dirección de Empresas / El presente plan de negocio consiste en la creación de una empresa facilitadora de turismo médico en Costa Rica la cual se encargue de asesorar, recibir y acompañar a personas extranjeras las cuales por diferentes razones desean realizarse tratamientos médicos de baja complejidad fuera de su país de residencia. Todo esto brindando una atención personalizada para cada cliente en cada una de las necesidades que tenga durante el transcurso de la experiencia que vivirá fuera de su país. La fuente de ingresos de la compañía serán las comisiones generadas de la venta de paquetes turístico médicos los cuales incluyan los servicios que ofrecen los aliados estratégicos y los cuales representen un beneficio en precio y comodidad para los pacientes potenciales en comparación de si adquirieran cada uno de dichos servicios por separado. Los paquetes incluirán el tratamiento médico en clínicas certificadas internacionalmente, la estadía en hoteles boutique durante su tratamiento y adicionalmente se ofrecerán por separado una serie de paquetes turísticos para que los pacientes disfruten para visitar sitios ecológicos antes o después de su tratamiento; todo esto con la intención de que los pacientes vivan una experiencia placentera que les permita conocer las bellezas naturales que posee Costa Rica. Para la confección de dichos paquetes la empresa mantendrá alianzas con un experimentado facilitador médico y certificado por la Medical Tourism Association médica llamado Global Medical Facilitators ubicado en Seattle, EEUU; con las clínicas costarricenses certificadas internacionalmente por la Joint Comission International: Hospital Clínica Cima y la Clínica Bíblica; con los hoteles boutique Hotel La Posada de San Miguel y Hotel Casa Conde; y por último con la empresa tour operadora Ecoadventure Group. La inversión inicial del proyecto será de US$ 256,000 para la creación de la compañía, así como para disponer de fondos para el primer año de operación. Se pretende que inversores externos a la empresa aporten dicho capital. Adicionalmente, el período de recuperación de la inversión será de 36 meses con una facturación promedio de US$ 1, 900,000, con un VAN de US$ 286,833.17 y con una TIR del 50% en los primeros 5 años de operación.

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