Introduction

Abstract

Brazil underwent stands and falls since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2007/2008. At the beginning of the 2010s, the country became an international reference for withstanding quite successful the contagion effect of the crisis as well as for being able to combine growth with income redistribution and poverty reduction. The economy recovered quickly and recorded a growth rate of 7.5 percent in 2010. Yet, growth began to slow down in late 2011 and turned into the worst recession of Brazilian history. Beyond the political crisis that ended with the impeachment of the president Dilma Roussef in August 2016, there is a heated debate about the causes of the economic crisis. This book comprises twelve chapters that bring to light the causes of both the fast recovery over 2009–2010 and the recent crisis, with focus on both the productive and financial dimensions, along with distributional and social issues.