Costa Rica, Panama, and Nicaragua: explaining economic success levels

Latin America is a region that has deep roots in Spanish colonialism. Since its independence, many countries in the region have heavily depended on agriculture exports to industrialized states to support their economies. This has led to political theorists to label Latin America as an area full of periphery countries that are exploited for resources by core countries. Costa Rica, Panama, and Nicaragua were not the exception. In recent years, however, a noticeable difference between the economies of the countries has helped Costa Rica and Panama become more successful than Nicaragua, on the basis of GDP, GNI, and other similar measures. This thesis attempts to explain this economic difference by analyzing what type of relationship the three countries have had with the United States (which has acted as a regional hegemon) and analyzing how each country has handled economic dependence on agriculture. Through this comparative case study, the thesis tries to add to development and dependency theory literature