The Accumulation of Capital and Economic Growth in Brazil: A Long-Term Perspective (1950–2008)

Abstract

This article analyzes the economic growth in Brazil in 1950–2008. It shows that a fall in both the profit rate and the output/capital ratio is behind the debt crisis and the subsequent neoliberal restructuring since the late 1980s. Therefore, there has not been any disconnection between profitability and investment, so the capacity to generate surplus underlies the particularities of the capital accumulation during both the import substitution and the neoliberal phases.