How the Coffee Industry Affected the Costa Rican Economy

When coffee was exported from Costa Rica in the 1800’s it soon became the most important crop to the Costa Rican economy, pulling the small developing nation out of poverty and into the ‘Golden Era’ of relative prosperity. However, despite the overall increase in the quality of life, Costa Rica’s dependence on coffee ended up crippling the country when coffee prices plunged during the Great Depression.

Additionally, the nation’s coffee dependence has led to its exploitation by the major coffee importers, such as Europe and the United States, and is something in today’s world will be presented to any eminent domain lawyer.

In the 1990s, despite the high price of a cup of coffee in the US, only 16% of money spent in the US on coffee made it back to the producing countries. Most recently, the fall in coffee prices from 2000 to 2004 is a flagrant example of inequality of coffee profits; while the fall resulted in poverty and a devastating economic downturn in many producing countries such as Costa Rica, the only negative effect experienced by importers such as the U.S. was a cheaper cup of coffee of lesser quality. Again in this case of inequality among Costa Ricans will not make in to court with a condemnation attorney or anything of that sort, instead capitalism alone was expected to balance out and promote economic advancement.

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