"No political action is as urgent these days as it is to aim at getting out of the economic crisis that afflicts Brazilian people," says Alfredo Bosi, editor of the Institute's journal 'Estudos Avançados'. This has been the motivation for the IEA to address the theme "Exits to the Economic Crisis" in its issue #89 (referring to January-April).

The journal's proposal was to put together a set of texts in which "proficiently competent economists set out their views and formulate viable short- or long-term proposals." Therefore, 'Estudos Avançados' counted on the collaboration of economist Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira, professor emeritus of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo and former finance minister o Brazil, who was in charge of organizing the dossier.

There are 12 articles written by 13 economists. Bresser-Pereira opens the set with the text Como Sair do Regime Liberal de Política Econômica e da Quase-Estagnação desde 1990 ("How to Leave the Liberal Regime of Economic Policy and Near-Stagnation since 1990"). He proposes that Brazil adopts five "developmental measures": responsible fiscal rule, moderate interest, competitive exchange, social agreement and progressive taxes.

For Edmar Bacha, Director of the 'Casa das Garças' Institute of Economic Policy Studies, there is an "almost ignored" reason for the slow growth of the Brazilian economy since the 1980s: "the very low participation of Brazil in international trade." Former president of the National Bank for Development and member of the team that has developed the Plano Real, Bacha proposes that the country adopts an integration program and production chains in three prerequisites: reduction of the Brazil cost, changes in the exchange rate and trade agreements.

"There are several meritorious proposals from leftist currents to the end of the crisis," according to Leda Maria Paulani, a professor at USP's Faculty of Economics, Management and Accounting (FEA), "but the country's problem today is of exhaustion, of the crisis of a rentier and financialized model which has already caused many losses to Brazil and Brazilians, particularly those of lower income." According to Paulani, former Secretary of Finance of the São Paulo City Hall, any measure adopted "without touching the institutional arrangement that has allowed the protagonism of the financial wealth and the imperatives of its valorization for almost three decades will be doomed to failure".

Several other actions are proposed in the other articles of the dossier, including the recovery of profit margins of non-financial companies, the continuity of monetary policy easing and the adoption of a tax on the export of commodities. The texts also discuss the causes and the evolution of the crisis, and the possible effects of measures that have already been adopted, such as Constitutional Amendment 95, which established a ceiling for public spending for 20 years.

Other themes

The second set of texts of the issue complements the dossier "Environmental Dilemmas and Frontiers of Knowledge", initiated in the previous issue. The thematic collection has been conceived by professors Pedro Roberto Jacobi and Leandro Luiz Giatti. Bosi emphasizes that "the texts add strategic measures and historical data that give new perspectives to the ecological militancy".

The humanities are contemplated with essays on aesthetics, cinema and literature. Among the discussed topics there are the works of writers Mário de Andrade and Ferreira Gullar, "central names of our fiction and our poetry," adds Bosi.

The issue also includes two articles commemorating the 30th anniversary of the IEA, celebrated in October 2016. Professor Carlos Guilherme Mota, the first director (1986-1988), addresses the history and initial years of the Institute. Professor Jacques Marcovitch, who succeeded Mota, highlighted programs and projects carried out during his administration (1988-1993) in line with the major national and international challenges of that time, such as the end of the Soviet Union, ECO 92, the new Constitution and the relations between capital and labor in Brazil.

The list below contains the names of the authors who have contributed with each one of the addressed themes:

Exits to the Economic Crisis

Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira
Edmar Bacha
Leda Maria Paulani
Antonio Corrêa de Lacerda
Fernando de Holanda Barbosa Filho
Ricardo Carneiro
Fernando Ferrari-Filho
José Luís Oreiro
Ladislau Dowbor
Nelson Marconi
Francisco Eduardo Pires de Souza
Luiz Fernando de Paula and Manoel Pires

Environmental Dilemmas and Frontiers of Knowledge II

Wagner Costa Ribeiro
Luis Enrique Sánchez
Helena Ribeiro, Patrícia Constante Jaime and Deisy Ventura
Vânia Maria Nunes dos Santos and Denise de La Corte Bacci
Flávia Mendes de Almeida Collaço and Célio Bermann
Gerôncio Rocha
João Batista Pamplona and Maria Cristina Cacciamali
Crisla Maciel Pott and Carina Costa Estrela
Leandra Altoé, José Márcio Costa, Delly Oliveira Filho, Francisco Javier Rey Martinez, Adriano Henrique Ferrarez and Lucas de Arruda Viana
Claudio Luis de Camargo Penteado, Daniel Ladeira Almeida and Roseli Frederigi Benassi
Marla Weihs, Doris Sayago and Jean-François Tourrand

Art, Literature and Cinema

Deribaldo Santos
Érica Gonçalves de Castro
Noel dos Santos Carvalho and Petrônio Domingues
Priscila Figueiredo
Viviana Bosi

IEA - 30 years

Carlos Guilherme Mota
Jacques Marcovitch

Reviews

Ana Paula Tavares Magalhães
Ieda Lebensztayn
Rosana Morais Weg
Suely Aparecida de Lima and Felician Medino Abraham

What is the risk of Donald Trump's neoconservative agenda interrupting or perverting public policies in Latin America aimed at sustainable development with innovation and democratization of opportunities? How will national and multilateral financial markets and institutions react to the new political scenario that heads to unilateralism? What does the new populism mean on a global scale?

Trying to answer these and further questions, economist Gilson Schwartz, a member of the IEA 2017 Sabbatical Year Program, has organized the seminar 'New Frontiers of Economic Geopolitics: Trump, Brazil and Latin America'. A group of speakers will discuss foreign policy and the profile of the new president of the United States of America on March 28, at 2.00 pm, in the IEA Events Room. The activity is a partnership between the IEA, USP's International Relations Research Center (NUPRI) and the Knowledge City Research Group, coordinated by Schwartz at the School of Communications and Arts (ECA-USP).

The event will be broadcast live in the IEA website.

"The focus of the debate is the identification of the new long-term challenges for the economy and society in Latin America after Trump's surprising victory. It is urgent to re-discuss the development model, not just short-term macroeconomic traps," says Schwartz.

The round-table format will bring together Otaviano Canuto, executive director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a group of countries that includes Brazil; Demétrio Magnoli, columnist for Folha de S. Paulo and GloboNews; Gesner de Oliveira, a professor at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) and director of GO Associados; Octavio de Barros, former chief economist of Bradesco and creator of Instituto República; Marcelo Carvalho, chief economist for Latin America at BNP Paribas; Marcelo P. Cypriano, researcher at the Brazil Investment Link (NUPRI) and strategist at Mont Capital; Guilherme Ary Plonski, deputy director of the IEA; and Rafael Duarte Villa, scientific coordinator of the NUPRI.

According to Schwartz, the discussion will be guided by the theme of innovation, considering its financial, technological and cultural dimensions. The group will discuss the public policies of the new global digital and financial emergency, and the national economic issues that are being replaced in face of the global crisis unleashed by the global financial crisis that began in 2008. The central question will be: Is Latin America, and especially Brazil, prepared for the new global agenda?

The seminar opens a series of activities aimed at formulating a new agenda and global scenarios for economic development policies focused on the digitization of production, consumption and finance. It is also the launching point for the Brazilian Investment Link, which will continue this agenda of debates and research.

Photo: Gage Skidmore