The Myth of Unified Unrest in Brazil

If you’ve been following the headlines about Brazil over the past several years, you’ve no doubt heard about the twin political and economic crises that have beset the proverbial país do futuro. After nearly a decade of boom years fueled by the commodity trade with China, select social and consumer spending, and the discovery of pre-salt layer oil fields, the Brazilian economy came to a screeching halt. The Brazilian real has fallen sharply since July 2011, when one US dollar bought 1.56 reais, to today, with one US dollar buying 3.85 reais. The outlook for 2016 is bleak: the economy is expected to shrink by three percent next year.