We from Brazil

Following the tradition of writings on the formation of Brazilian economics, Nósdo Brasil is a timely work on the pitfalls, or "knots", of our country's growth.

Zeina Latif, one of Brazil's greatest economists, transcends her field of expertise here by examining the problems of various aspects of Brazilian reality to investigate the origins of the obstacles to development in the country.

Brazil's history, even when compared to that of its Latin American neighbors, has some peculiarities: it had a longer period of slavery; it harbored a monarchy; it maintained the integrity of its territory; it established the Republic late; it suffered several coups d'état; it has a broad and complex Constitution; and it inherited from the Portuguese colonizers a patrimonialist model that remains strong to this day. The easy and short-term choices made by its rulers over the years have contributed to the obstacles to our economic development.

This book seeks to address all the obstacles, or "us," to Brazil's development. It would be unfair, however, to attribute all the blame to historical roots. How can we explain, for example, the successive errors in public education? The coups d'état? And the corruption scandals? Is Brazil doomed to low growth and mediocre development, or is institutional maturity underway? This book is also about "us," Brazilians, who, with our heritage and our choices, perpetuate an unjust and unequal society in our country.

Excerpt from the introduction: "There is no ready-made formula for economic development. Countries' experiences vary, starting with their historical heritage. Even so, some factors prove empirically more important in explaining why some countries became wealthy. One of the objectives of this book is to discuss the extent to which Brazil disappointed or failed precisely in the factors most associated with the higher per capita income of developed countries."