If the student and their homestay family get along and don't have issues, it's a perfect way to make income and become acquainted with someone from another place. This allows for integration and a family to have another source of income. I also have researched and found that Costa Rica has a very good welfare system and is very willing to provide these government funds to those in need; this is because many jobs here are low-income and aren't very well sustainable for citizens; so I hope the welfare system can offset that.
Another thing that I've learned is that food companies are creating monopolies (full distribution control) on food crops that many low-income communities depend on for their income. This issue takes away from the profits of local communities by forcing them to bring down their prices to rock bottom in order to stay competitive in the market, but unfortunately that doesn't offset the production costs of these food crops and local communities are often left with little to nothing. This is not just a problem in Costa Rica, but can be found around the world. For example, we see this problem with tomatoes in Ghana; big corporations are now importing tomato goods and taking away business from local producers, as their produce isn't bought in the region, which leads to the tomatoes going to waste. These companies are bringing in canned goods and don't allow for domestic goods to be sold. This forces farmers and workers to migrate into other countries to find work elsewhere in order to provide for their families, but this comes with many risks and heavy labor, which is truly tragic and, in my opinion, selfish of corporations.
