In 1800, the per capita income of the United States was twice that of Mexico and roughly the same as Brazil’s. By 1913, it was four times greater than Mexico’s and seven times greater than Brazil’s. This volume seeks to explain the nineteenth-century lag in Latin American economic...

Sao Paulo, by far the most populated state in Brazil, has an economy to rival that of Colombia or Venezuela. Its capital city is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the world. How did Sao Paulo, once a frontier province of little importance, become one of the most vital agricultural and...

This is the first complete economic and social history of Brazil in the modern period in any language. It provides a detailed analysis of the evolution of the Brazilian society and economy from the end of the empire in 1889 to the present day. The authors elucidate the basic trends that have...