Abstract

Evaluation of the growth model of the PT governments based on the contributions of Celso Furtado reveals that the recent growth cycle has alleviated the typical characteristics of underdevelopment by developing a mass consumption market and improving labor market conditions. However, the limitations of the model prevented modernizing the structure of production to sustain changes on the demand side, including labor in sectors with higher productivity, limiting the control of foreign subsidiaries, and reducing the structural vulnerability inherent in specialization in basic commodities exports. The limits of the model were aggravated by the crisis of 2008–2009, revealing the difficulty of incorporating a peripheral economy like the Brazilian into global capitalism.

* The first author Professor Pedro Rossi is a visiting scholar in Fudan Development Institute.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0094582X19891700