This paper surveys the formation and development of insurance business in Brazil. It describes its very first steps, from the colonial times and imperial era to recent events. Particular attention is given to regulatory changes, showing how they evolved in response to macroeconomic shocks that...

1. Brazil and the GATT, 1947-1980 Early years: GATT and ITO The first 20 years: rich men’s club and free riders Brazil and the Tokyo Round 2. Skirmishes before the Uruguay Round, 1980-86 3. The Uruguay Round, 1986-1994 4. Brazil and the GATT, 1980-1994 5. Brazil and the WTO after the Uruguay...

This paper on the Brazilian Economy is the draft of a chapter to be included in volume IX of the Cambridge History of Latin America, edited by Leslie Bethell . The 1929-1980 period has been covered by the material circulated in Texto para Discussão 0433, November 2000. A third chapter on the...

This chapter on the Brazilian economy after 1994 is of a somewhat different nature compared to those on the economy in earlier periods. It is more speculative than its predecessors and based on a more restricted range of bibliographical material, as there is less consolidated research work on...

We document a novel type of international financial contagion whose driving force is shared financial intermediation. In the London peripheral sovereign debt market during pre-1914 period financial intermediation played a major informational role to investors, most likely because of the absence...