How to Save Brazil

Brazil, among the world’s 10 largest economies and the fifth most populous, is in political and economic turmoil. The president has been impeached and the Brazilian Senate will decide whether to proceed with a trial. Populist policies and a drop in commodity prices led to debt that is 70 percent of GDP. Political leaders must act swiftly to restore public confidence and reduce corruption especially as the country under the eye of the global media, battling the Zika virus and preparing to host the Olympics. Luiz Felipe d’Avila, president of the Brazil Center of Public Leadership, urges attracting foreign capital to improve infrastructure, allowing workers to form private contracts with employers, and hiking the retirement wage along with other reforms. “Brazil needs to reinsert itself into the global economy,” he writes, adding that requires increasing productivity and expanding exports. “Real change means breaking the addiction to a paternalistic and interventionist state and supporting needed policy adjustments, even when they are unpleasant.” – YaleGlobal