Having come home from Spring Break in Costa Rica I find myself as impressed by their commitment to good social policy as by the gorgeous rain forest and beaches. Costa Rica became a Republic in 1838, and the first free elections occurred about 50 years later. Since then the country has been very peaceful with the exception of a 44 day Civil War fought in 1949 over a disputed election. At the conclusion of the war, the winning party abolished the military and drafted a new Constitution guaranteeing free elections. The lack of a military in Costa Rica is something many Costa Ricans I talked to were very proud of and sure to mention to American tourists in particular. 48% of Costa Rican households were in poverty in 1982, however, by 1995, only 15% of households lived in poverty. While the country still exhibits a substantial disparity between urban wealth and rural poverty, this dramatic change in a short period of time suggests the government must be doing something right. Costa Rica boasts a phenomenal universal health care system with very low cost coverage both to citizens and immigrants (Costa Rica has a immigration problem primarily with Nicaragua which very much resembles ours with Mexico). Costa Rica currently has the 3rd highest average life expectancy in the world, leading the US. The country offers a social security package similar to ours as well as many other programs aimed specifically at aiding impoverished women and children. One interesting program I learned about is a free government run day care service offered to single, working parents. In the realm of education, Costa Rica offers free preschool through high school education and extremely cheap University education for all citizens. A relatively high percentage of agricultural workers are well educated. Cool, huh?