Elites, Ideas and the Challenge of the Double Incorporation: The Case of Costa Rica (Research and Policy Brief)

Securing well-paid formal jobs and providing universal public social services are two of the most significant challenges facing developing countries. Costa Rica is one of few countries to achieve this "double incorporation", with most advances concentrated between the 1950s and 1980s. In this process, the state played a fundamental role: promoting policies that supported small and medium firms and cooperatives, expanding lending, creating public employment and increasing social spending. These policies were influenced by international ideas adapted to the local context, and driven by an emerging elite of small entrepreneurs and urban professionals who relied on their access to state power to increase their economic opportunities and secure social and political stability.

This Research and Policy Brief was written by Juliana Martínez Franzoni and Diego Sánchez-Ancochea.

UNRISD Research and Policy Briefs aim to improve the quality of development dialogue. They situate the Institute’s research within wider social development debates, synthesize its findings and draw out issues for consideration in decision-making processes. They provide this information in a concise format that should be of use to policy makers, scholars, activists, journalists and others.