Two Opposing Concepts of Economic Policy on Trial

This contribution analyses the economic characteristics of the South Korean and the Brazilian economies and attributes them to two fundamentally opposed orientations. South Korea's economic policy can be described as "evolutionary". This refers to the combination of a liberal economic framework with state efforts to continually adapt economic structures to constantly changing external conditions. Brazilian policy, in contrast, is an example of the "structure-preserving" concept. Powerul rent-seeking groups delay the neccessary institutional reforms which could create confidence among potential investors. Evidently, the superior performance of an evolutionary approach follows from its focus on competitive flexibility in a continually changing economy