The last 20 years were a period of major political, economic, social, and institutional reform in Brazil. In the first half of the 1990s, reformers opened the economy to foreign trade and both direct and portfolio investment, sold off a number of large and traditional state-owned enterprises,...

The main objectives of regulatory reform and privatization of infrastructure in Brazil were to attract new private investment, increase efficiency and reduce the public debt through the use of privatization revenues. Whereas the evidence suggests that regulatory reform (privatization included)...

This paper discusses the importance of well-functioning judicial institutions for economic growth. Institutions that show a wide range of variation across countries, in their characteristics and quality. In a highly integrated world, these cross-country variations have relevant implications for...

The frustration with the poor outcomes of a decade of price stability and structural reforms has led to strong criticisms against the Washington Consensus policies. Three interpretations have emerged to explain these poor outcomes. One hinges on a lack of depth in the reform process. Another one...

A way to accelerate the process of judicial reform in Brazil, and reach proposals with a significant potential to overcome current problems, is to learn with the professionals who know most about the Judiciary: the judges themselves. This is the approach that inspired the survey discussed in...

What are the determinants of economic reform efforts? This paper tries to throw light on this question by examining recent reforms in Brazil, a country which followed a gradualist approach and was a late-starter among Latin American economies. We argue that these first generation reforms (trade...

Este trabalho discute a importância da privatização, da reforma do aparato regulatório, e do desenvolvimento de novas fontes de financiamento para a expansão da infra-estrutura no Brasil. Conclui-se que, apesar dos avanços obtidos nos últimos anos, as transformações observadas nesse...

The study aims at analyzing the emergence of export discoveries in Brazil following a framework proposed by Hausmann and Rodrik (2003, p. 603-633). Three activities were selected to illustrate the approach applied to Brazil: aircrafts, cell phones and swine meat. These activities not only...