A History of Brazilian Economic Thought: From Colonial Times through the Early 21st Century ed. by Ricardo Bielschowsky, Mauro Boianovsky, and Mauricio C. Coutinho
该书系统梳理了巴西从殖民时期到21世纪初的经济思想演变，涵盖殖民经济、咖啡时代、现代发展主义等阶段，适合对拉美经济史或经济思想史感兴趣的读者快速入门。
In the introduction to the volume, the editors declare that “the book has been conceived to fill a void, namely the fact that the evolution of Brazilian economic thinking has never been covered from such a long-term perspective in the English language” (1). Indeed, a considerable portion of the historical research on Brazilian economic thought remains accessible only in Portuguese. The book thus offers a comprehensive review of the history of the evolution of Brazilian economic thought, helping to introduce the topic to a broader readership. The contributions are introduced with brief discussions of the historical context that benefit those less aware of the details of Brazilian economic history. The book is divided into three broad periods: the colonial and early postcolonial era; the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when coffee exports were the major economic activity; and the modern era after the 1930s.A pair of chapters is dedicated to the colonial and early postcolonial era. José Luís Cardoso explores the political and economic ideas concerning the administration of colonial Brazil. He surveys the work of a number of intellectuals in the period, from the Jesuit priest Antônio Vieira, who espoused mercantilistic ideas to improve the colonial revenues of the Portuguese state following the Restoration of 1640, to Sousa Coutinho and his Enlightenment-influenced ideas on economic reform in the transition from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century. In common, the thinking of those authors concerned how to better exploit the colonial economy for Portuguese imperial interests. Mauricio C. Coutinho explores the development of political economy in Brazil in the transition to a postcolonial economy. Coutinho shows that since the beginning of the nineteenth century, classical political economy was influential among Brazilian intellectuals interested in economic problems. With the lack of universities in colonial Brazil, elite intellectuals graduated from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, where Enlightenment ideals became influential in the late eighteenth century. Coutinho explores the thinking of a number of Brazilian Coimbra graduates in the early nineteenth century. He also appraises the economic observations on the country made by a number of European explorers who traveled to Brazil in that period.Three chapters examine the evolution of ideas in the “coffee era,” encompassing the duration of the Empire of Brazil (1822–89) and the First Republic (1889–1930). Amaury Gremaud and Renato Marcondes survey the complex debate on slavery during the empire, particularly its extension after the delayed ending of the Atlantic slave trade in 1850. The authors identify three major groups in this period: those who upheld the continuity of slavery until its “natural extinction”; proponents of the replacement of enslaved Africans with free European immigrants, inspired by an ideology of racial supremacy; and abolitionists who believed that the end of slavery would be possible only by reforming the Brazilian plantation system into an economic framework marked by small land holdings. The intellectual debate, however, had a marginal impact on the abolition in 1888, which was conceded after political agitation in the 1880s. The authors survey some of the propaganda and legal action taken by abolitionists, with the significant participation of Afro Brazilians.The chapters on the debates on monetary policy, by André Villela, and on protectionism, by Flávio Versiani, during the coffee era challenge a common interpretation that policymakers of the period uncritically adhered to the gold standard and free-trade orthodoxy. Villela shows that there were actually challenges to monetary orthodoxy, with defenses of currency devaluation to foster economic activity. On the other hand, policymakers were constrained owing to the government's sterling liabilities, so although monetary expansionism fostered economic growth, debt crises were inevitable in such moments. For protectionism as an instrument for developing the national industry, Versiani shows that since the middle of the nineteenth century, there were legislative debates concerning tariff protection. What was lacking in that period was an industrial class to defend its interests, whereas commercial associations involved in international trade exerted a strong influence in the design of commercial policy, favoring less intervention. It was only after the slow emergence of national industries beginning in the late nineteenth century and the organization of industrial interests in the 1920s that protectionist policies were fully adopted as a development strategy.The modern era is analyzed from different perspectives, which are separated into two parts that open and close the book. In the initial part, the late Mauro Boianovsky examines the participation of Brazilians in the transnational academic community of economics. Brazil is a latecomer to academic economics, with the first graduate schools created in the 1960s. Nonetheless, contributions from Brazilian scholars have carved their space into the international community. Boianovsky identifies two major characteristics that shaped Brazilian contributions to theoretical economics. The trajectory of the Brazilian economy in the twentieth century and its problems oriented much of the earlier contributions. Brazilian economists had an early focus on development theory, but with a hyperinflationary process beginning in the late 1970s, they turned their attention to inflation theory and stabilization programs. Also, the methodological pluralism that marked the academic professionalization of the discipline in the country has shaped the range of fields with Brazilian contributors. Boianovsky highlights notable contributions both in mathematical economics and in heterodox approaches, such as post-Keynesianism.In the final part, two chapters analyze the rise and fall of developmentalism, which is defined as “the ideology of Brazilian society's transformation by means of state planning and support for full industrialization” (158). Thus, the chapters are more concerned with ideas related to the national economic debate. Ricardo Bielschowsky and Carlos Mussi survey the various developmentalist ideas from their birth in the 1930s to their heyday in the 1970s. Eduardo Bastian and Carlos Bastos analyze the demise of developmentalism with the economic instability of the 1980s, the rise of neoliberal economic reforms in the 1990s, and the emergence of a “neo-developmentalism” in the 2000s.The volume demonstrates that a significant portion of research in the history of Brazilian economic thought has focused on themes related to economic policymaking. Issues in Brazilian economic history motivate much of this interest in ideas influencing policies and policymakers. But the book also shows that there are research opportunities from a history of science perspective, especially on the development of economics within academic communities in Brazil. The establishment of a national academic community of economists following the creation of postgraduate courses in the discipline in the 1960s and 1970s, along with its connection to global networks, has been recently explored by historians. As discussed by Boianovsky, some groups were soon integrated into the global community of economics, both in orthodox and heterodox circles. The transnational approach to the history of economics in Brazil suggested by Boianovsky is suitable for uncovering the histories that shaped the contributions to economics by Brazilians.Moreover, despite the late professionalization of the discipline, economics existed in Brazil before, within law and engineering schools. Indeed, as Coutinho shows, it begins at the University of Coimbra, before the creation of Brazilian higher education institutions. There is still much to learn about how economics was taught in the early days of Brazilian higher education. Even if students “took a single course in Economics, so their knowledge of the subject could not be very profound,” as Versiani puts it (134), exploring distinct images of economics within law and engineering schools in Brazil before the professionalization of the discipline can further shed light on the evolution of Brazilian economic thought.The editors are correct in pointing out the absence in the literature of a volume covering Brazilian economic thought from a long-term perspective, and filling this gap is a significant contribution of the book. Given the extensive span of time analyzed, there are certainly some overlooked themes, but the chapters succeed in covering a wide range of topics. Overall, the book achieves its objective of addressing the gap in the literature. By offering narratives on key actors and themes in Brazilian economic thought, the book immediately becomes an important introductory handbook to historians interested in the topic.