5 ms·

I read a lot of economics blogs. A lot of them seem to have the joke, "Brazil is the country of the future, and it always will be!" The meaning is that Brazil

I read a lot of economics blogs. A lot of them seem to have the joke, "Brazil is the country of the future, and it always will be!" The meaning is that Brazil should be a more successful country. Great location, favorable demographics, lots of natural resources, peaceful neighbors, large population, mostly stable government. But it just never quite becomes successful. But in could, in the future! But that's what people also said in the past. Somewhere I read that around 1900, Brazil had the same GDP per capita as the United States. And that was the peak of Brazil. I'm not trying to pick on Brazil. I have a favorable opinion of Brazil and its citizens. I hope that Brazil proves the economists wrong and becomes the country that it can be.

salsify 3y ago
What are some of the best economics blogs? Interested in learning more.
- LastNevadan 3y ago
  It's hard for me to name a single source of this quote, but it's clear it shows up in a lot of economics texts and blogs if you search for it. I've seen it lots of times over the years. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Brazil+is+the+country+of+the+future%2C+and+it+always+will+be https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Brazil+is+the+country+of+the+futur...
- rapfaria 3y ago
  Lyn Alden's, just brilliant
khalilsautchuk 3y ago
LOL, true i'm a 33yo Brazilian and since i remember i hear that Brazil is the country of the future. But it never gets there. lmao
pram 3y ago
This is controversial I'm sure but I think the language keeps them isolated. No one else uses Portuguese so it's like a weird island. I speak (Mexican) Spanish and I can't really understand a Brazilian at all, unless they speak English ;P
- tmm84 3y ago
  As someone who grew up near Mexico and learned mostly Mexican Spanish I can agree but having moved to Japão I had to adapt to the fact Brazilian is more common in the area I live in. Several months of dabbling in it has made Spanish look like the odder language. I read Spanish and feel like it is poorly written Português. I don’t know if anyone else can relate to this.
morkalork 3y ago
What I don't get is why Argentina's economy has so much problems and inflation compared to Brazil, what is it they are doing differently? Why don't they do whatever it is Brazil is doing to be stable?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- matheusmoreira 3y ago
  Don't be fooled. Brazil may seem stable right now but the future's not looking too good. Government spending went through the roof this year. To me it seems like the only thing keeping the country afloat is the monstrously high interest rate. It's only a matter of time before they get rid of that as well. Brazil suffered many times the exact same hyperinflation Argentina now faces. We have gone through several currencies now. If you search HN for Brazil, one of the top posts is about the creation of the real and how they convinced the population that this time it was somehow going to be different. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1757716 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1757716 The real is merely 30 years old and has already inflated about 1100%. 1 BRL@1994-07 is about 12 BRL@2023-10. Somehow salaries don't seem to increase as much.
- LastNevadan 3y ago
  I'm no expert on the topic, but I think that Argentina has more of a tendency toward socialist economic policies. Argentina is especially known for Juan Perón [1], who implemented a lot of socialist policies that were quite popular with the working class but were not generally helpful for Argentina. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Per%C3%B3n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Per%C3%B3n
  - matheusmoreira 3y ago
    Brazil has the exact same unfortunate tendency. Hell there's a literal socialist in the presidency right now and countless others in power. President fancies himself the creator of some kind of latin american soviet union.

salsify 3y ago

What are some of the best economics blogs? Interested in learning more.

LastNevadan 3y ago
It's hard for me to name a single source of this quote, but it's clear it shows up in a lot of economics texts and blogs if you search for it. I've seen it lots of times over the years. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Brazil+is+the+country+of+the+future%2C+and+it+always+will+be https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Brazil+is+the+country+of+the+futur...
rapfaria 3y ago
Lyn Alden's, just brilliant

khalilsautchuk 3y ago

LOL, true i'm a 33yo Brazilian and since i remember i hear that Brazil is the country of the future. But it never gets there. lmao

pram 3y ago

This is controversial I'm sure but I think the language keeps them isolated. No one else uses Portuguese so it's like a weird island. I speak (Mexican) Spanish and I can't really understand a Brazilian at all, unless they speak English ;P

tmm84 3y ago
As someone who grew up near Mexico and learned mostly Mexican Spanish I can agree but having moved to Japão I had to adapt to the fact Brazilian is more common in the area I live in. Several months of dabbling in it has made Spanish look like the odder language. I read Spanish and feel like it is poorly written Português. I don’t know if anyone else can relate to this.

morkalork 3y ago

What I don't get is why Argentina's economy has so much problems and inflation compared to Brazil, what is it they are doing differently? Why don't they do whatever it is Brazil is doing to be stable?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
matheusmoreira 3y ago
Don't be fooled. Brazil may seem stable right now but the future's not looking too good. Government spending went through the roof this year. To me it seems like the only thing keeping the country afloat is the monstrously high interest rate. It's only a matter of time before they get rid of that as well. Brazil suffered many times the exact same hyperinflation Argentina now faces. We have gone through several currencies now. If you search HN for Brazil, one of the top posts is about the creation of the real and how they convinced the population that this time it was somehow going to be different. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1757716 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1757716 The real is merely 30 years old and has already inflated about 1100%. 1 BRL@1994-07 is about 12 BRL@2023-10. Somehow salaries don't seem to increase as much.
LastNevadan 3y ago
I'm no expert on the topic, but I think that Argentina has more of a tendency toward socialist economic policies. Argentina is especially known for Juan Perón [1], who implemented a lot of socialist policies that were quite popular with the working class but were not generally helpful for Argentina. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Per%C3%B3n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Per%C3%B3n
- matheusmoreira 3y ago
  Brazil has the exact same unfortunate tendency. Hell there's a literal socialist in the presidency right now and countless others in power. President fancies himself the creator of some kind of latin american soviet union.