Economics Editorial
Towards the middle of my three-week study trip in Costa Rica, my group and I took an excursion to the Museo Nacional in the nation's capital, San Jose. Based out of a large stone fortress many decades old, the museum had a massive collection of Pre-Columbian artifacts and relics. These objects, ranging from tools to jewelry to monuments, were a unique product of the indigenous population of the area. True, they weren't entirely unaffected by the surrounding socio-ethnic cultures; but at the same time, the objects were unmistakably Costa Rican, both in terms of origin and styling. They were a product of a single, specific culture, and distinct from those of neighboring ones.
But outside of the museum, Costa Rica is a product of the modern era; an era of globalized trade, cultural diffusion, and foreign influence. It's culture is one of adaptation and change; of taking in parts of other cultures and altering them to fit the local lifestyle and customs. The nation maintains a unique identity and sense of self, of course, but at the same time the marks of international contact are hard to miss. For every restaurant that sells gallo pinto or casado another one can be found serving up hamburgers or sushi.
Perhaps the clearest mark of a globalized culture and economy is the ever-present soft drink titans. As Harvard Professor of Business Administration Richard Tedlow argues, "Coca-Cola is said to be the second most well-known phrase in the world" (according to Bloomberg Businessweek). My time in Costa Rica did nothing if not enforce this. For instance, the 2014 Brazil World Cup was going on at the time of my visit, and Coke was one of their major sponsors; advertisements for the beverage were nigh-unavoidable. Pepsi had less of a presence, just like in the United States, but it was still all over the place.
It's important to clarify that these two companies are not outliers when it comes to the Costa Rican economy; rather, they are exemplary of a larger system that is able to incorporate foreign trade and industry into small-scale localized economies. Nike and Adidas, Universal Studios and Disney, Forever 21 and Apple; these and many other companies have massive footholds in the national industries, on a scale that wouldn't be out of place even in the US.
This is the clearest expression of a process that has been occurring around the world for many years now. After all, the disruption of the indigenous culture by the Europeans so many centuries ago is a product of the very same process that can cause the establishment of a Chinatown in the middle of a Central American city.
It is a process that shaped my experience in Costa Rica, just as it shapes all of our lives in the United States or anywhere else on the planet. It is a process that has informed the earth for many centuries gone by, and which will certainly continue to do so for many more to come. It is the process of globalization, and it is the way of the world we live in now.
The question is, of course, whether or not globalization is a good thing. Large, multinational corporations go into countries such as Costa Rica and create jobs, new markets, and, in general, economic growth. The indigenous culture has not been destroyed even if slightly disrupted, and it has allowed regions that would have otherwise been entirely ignored to become part of an interconnected worldwide economy and even culture.
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