Conventional wisdom claims that Brazilian economic governance underwent a sea-change over the three decades between the return to democracy and the election of 2018. Yet even during moments of intense reform, Brazil adopted a much more moderate and incremental approach than its Latin American...

Brazil features regularly in global comparisons of large developing economies. Yet since the 1980s, the country has been caught in a low-level equilibrium, marked by lackluster growth and destructive inequality. One cause is the country's enduring commitment to a set of ideas and institutions...