Neoliberalism and Neo-Structuralism in Brazil:  Complementarity in the Facilitation of Economic Development

Between 1990 and 2010, approximately during the democratic governments of president Cardoso and Lula, Brazil witnessed a strong improvement in economic development. During this period, poverty rates had fallen in astonishing numbers, while inequality levels declined significantly. This thesis investigates to what extent the neoliberal economic policies implemented by Cardoso, and the neo-structural economic reforms instituted by Lula, resulted in the economic development that Brazil experienced during the said period. The main hypothesis of the thesis is that both economic models have been complementary in facilitating economic development in Brazil. The first chapter of the thesis concerns itself with defining the most important concepts and terminology related to the topic under investigation, such as ‘economic development’, ‘neoliberalism’ and ‘neo-structuralism’. Then in the second chapter, the paper will deal with the historic context of the economic problems Brazil faced...Show moreBetween 1990 and 2010, approximately during the democratic governments of president Cardoso and Lula, Brazil witnessed a strong improvement in economic development. During this period, poverty rates had fallen in astonishing numbers, while inequality levels declined significantly. This thesis investigates to what extent the neoliberal economic policies implemented by Cardoso, and the neo-structural economic reforms instituted by Lula, resulted in the economic development that Brazil experienced during the said period. The main hypothesis of the thesis is that both economic models have been complementary in facilitating economic development in Brazil. The first chapter of the thesis concerns itself with defining the most important concepts and terminology related to the topic under investigation, such as ‘economic development’, ‘neoliberalism’ and ‘neo-structuralism’. Then in the second chapter, the paper will deal with the historic context of the economic problems Brazil faced before the economic development, and how Cardoso and Lula sought to deal with these problems. Finally, using social and economic indicators relevant to economic development, a comparative analysis will be made between the influence that Cardoso’s neoliberal economic policies, and the influence that Lula’s neo-structural economic reforms had on the long term economic development of Brazil. The thesis concludes by stating that the comparative analysis has demonstrated that the two economic models, neoliberalism and neo-structuralism respectively, were indeed complementary in achieving Brazil’s long term economic development. The relevance of this research to the wider academic debate is that it has provided some insight into the extent to which neoliberalism and neo-structuralism can be complementary in the facilitation of economic development for countries still in the early stages of development.Show less

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Neoliberalism and Neo-Structuralism in Brazil: Complementarity in the Facilitation of Economic Development