United States, Costa Rica, Jamaica

UNITED STATES, COSTA RICA, JAMAICA

The country that would increase its success and meet more of its economic goals, from trading with the United States, would be Jamaica. They are not doing as well as Costa Rica. Jamaica has an enormous amount of crime problems, gangs, and drug trading. Expanding trade with the U.S. would allow the country to expand and start to come out of the poverty and other issues they’ve been having. The balance of trade and efficiency, GDP and growth of the country would increase.

The United States would benefit the most by trading with Costa Rica. They are knowledgeable in technology and are big exporters in integrated circuits, medical equipment, bananas, pineapples, coffee, melons, sugar, textiles, electronic components, and medical equipment. It would also be easier to trade with Costa Rica because the United States is already apart of a free trade zone with them, the CAFTA. Tariffs are eliminated, it protects one country from the other, and each country has fair rules and regulations. The agreement allows for the countries to benefit and for their economies to grow.

High inflation would mean that the countries currency value decreases. None of these three countries are experiencing high inflation. If they were the country with the high inflation would lose trading partners, the other investor will seek some place else to purchase the same product at a lower cost.

The United States needs to be cautious when trading with Jamaica because of their crime and drug problems. In Costa Rica there are diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, hepatitis and harmful insects.

Overall, Costa Rica would be a better trading partner for the United States. They are working hard to become a developed country and not a third world country. The FTA the U.S. already has with Costa Rica is benefiting both countries and has no problems. Why stop something that is working well? It would increase growth, GPD, economic freedom index, and efficiency in both countries. Trading would allow both countries to gain products needed, the GDP would help raise the people's standard of living. With both economies expanding, overtime their relationship as trading partners will grow and hopefully will see more goals being reached.

Other sources not previously cited:
http://costa-rica-guide.com/travel/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=152&Itemid=98

United States, Costa Rica, Jamaica Maps

Pictures:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://turkeymacedonia.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/united_states_wall_2002_us.jpg&imgrefurl
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://sweetmarias.com/jamaica.gif&imgrefur
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://sweetmarias.com/costarica.gif&imgrefurl

United States, Costa Rica, Jamaica 5.2

Name, Location, Geography
Can you include a map to show locations of your countries? What are some geographic features of the countries that may impact production and trade?

1. United States

Tropical climate in Florida and Hawaii, arctic in Alaska, overall mostly temperate
Central plain, mountains in west, volcanoes in Hawaii
Volcanoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes, mudslides, forest fires, flooding, air pollution

2. Costa Rica

Tropical climate, coastal plain, rugged mountains, four volcanoes
Earthquakes, deforestation, and hurricanes
Flooding of lowlands and landslides, two active volcanoes

3. Jamaica

Island, mountains, hot and tropical climate, coastal plains
Hurricanes, deforestation, oil spill, air pollution

Economic System
Is the country primarily a traditional, command, market, or mixed economy? How does the country structure its leadership? Is the country developed or least developed? Are there any significant events happening in the country in regards to its economy or politics?

1. United States

Market economy
Constitution-based federal republic
Developed country
Recession, debt

2. Costa Rica

Gov. Type: Democratic republic
Developing country
Mixed economy
Floods, earthquakes

3. Jamaica

Gov. Type: Constitutional parliamentary democracy, based on English common law
Internal debt
Unemployment
Drug trade
Mixed economy

Works Cited:

http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blccostarica.htm

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2019.htm

http://us.oneworld.net/places/costa-rica

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/26123/20100601/6-1-earthquake-shakes-costa-rica-s-pacific-coast.htm

http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcjamaica.htm

http://www.123independenceday.com/jamaica/economy.html

United States, Costa Rica, Jamaica 5.3

Economic Indicators
What are the current rates of:

unemployment
GDP
income gap
EFW index
balance of trade

1. United States

9.3%
$14.43 trillion
80.7
-$419.9 billion

2. Costa Rica

7.8%
$29.64 billion
66.4
-$614 million

3. Jamaica

12.9%
$12.06 billion
65.2
-$776 million

Works Cited:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2195.html?countryName=United%20States&countryCode=us&regionCode=na&#us

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2129.html?countryName=United%20States&countryCode=us&regionCode=na&#us

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2187.html?countryName=&countryCode=&regionCode

United States, Costa Rica, Jamaica 5.4

Major Industries
What industries are most prominent in the country? What do most people do for work there? Are there any famous special items the country produces?

1. United States

Mineral, agriculture (grain), shipping
Manufacturing: petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, chemicals, electronics, lumber, mining, consumer goods, food processing, etc.
Work for companies, businesses, on farms

2. Costa Rica

Microprocessors, food processing, medical equipment, textiles and clothing, construction materials, fertilizer, plastic products
Work in retail, manufacturing
Coffee, bananas, sugar, textiles, electronic components, electricity

3. Jamaica

Tourism, bauxite/alumina, agro processing, light manufactures, rum, cement, metal, paper, chemical products, telecommunications
Work in businesses, travel industry, farmer
Sugarcane, bananas, coffee, citrus, yams, vegetables, poultry, goats, mollusks

Advantage
Through which products or industries does the country enjoy absolute advantage? Through which products or industries does the country enjoy comparative advantage over the other two countries? Does the United States already have a trade relationship with the country? If so, list products of exchange. You may leave the box for the United States blank on this one. You may reference statistics about current production in the countries, amounts or value of natural resources, and other data.

1. United States

Absolute advantage: military exports, software
Comparative advantage: corn (agricultural products)

2. Costa Rica

Absolute advantage: bananas and coffee
Comparative advantage: fruit
Products of exchange: integrated circuits, medical equipment, bananas, pineapples, coffee, melons, sugar, textiles, electronic components, medical equipment

3. Jamaica

Absolute advantage: tourism
Comparative advantage: sugarcane
Products of exchange: alumina, sugar, bananas, chemicals, citrus fruits, rum, coffee, tourism