Brazil in the Global Crisis: Still a Rising Economic Superpower?

Monday, July 13, 2009, 2:00 pm — 3:30 pm

The Brookings Institution, Saul/Zilkha Rooms, 1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC

In the past decade, Brazil’s role in the world economy has changed in important ways; today, the country occupies key niches in global energy, agriculture, service and some high-technology markets. Brazil could play an important role in helping the global economy recover. However, Latin America’s largest nation still struggles with endemic inequality issues and deep-seated ambivalence toward global economic integration.

On July 13, the Latin America Initiative at Brookings will host a discussion on the recently released book, Brazil as an Economic Superpower? Understanding Brazil’s Changing Role in the Global Economy (Brookings Institution Press, 2009), edited by Brookings Political Economy Fellow Leonardo Martinez-Diaz and Lael Brainard, former vice president and director of Global Economy and Development at Brookings. Panelists—including Martinez-Diaz, Jose Guilherme Reis of the World Bank and Paulo Vieira da Cunha, former director of International Affairs at the Central Bank of Brazil—will discuss the impact of the global financial crisis on Brazil’s economy and how the country’s economic prospects might be affected by the slump in global demand and the changes in the international financial system.

Mauricio Cárdenas, senior fellow and director of the Latin America Initiative at Brookings, will provide introductory remarks and moderate the panel discussion. After the program, panelists will take audience questions.

Introduction and Moderator

Mauricio Cardenas
Senior Fellow and Director, Latin America Initiative

The Brookings Institution

Panelists

Leonardo Martinez-Diaz

Political Economy Fellow

The Brookings Institution

Jose Guilherme Reis

Lead Economist

Finance, Private Sector and Infrastructure Group in Latin America and the Caribbean

The World Bank

Paulo Vieira da Cunha

Head of Emerging Markets Research, Tandem Global
Former Director of International Affairs, Central Bank of Brazil

To RSVP for this event, please call the Office of Communications at 202.797.6105 or click here.
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The Institute for Policy Studies, Oxfam America
and the U.S. Office on Colombia

invites you to

Andrés García's presentation of his research on

Free Trade Agreements,
Peasant Economy, and
Illicit Crops in Colombia

The illicit cultivation of coca in Colombia is not as profitable a business as one would imagine. A new study by Colombian development expert Andrés García, reveals that the majority of small farmers growing coca in the areas studied were earning less than the legal minimum wage. Why do they persist in cultivating coca for illicit use? They simply do not have a viable economic alternative, according to Mr. García's report. Indeed he found that the majority of peasants used the money to buy basic social services, such as healthcare, which were not provided by the state.

Andrés García's research was funded by Oxfam and conducted in the departments of Nariño and Cauca. Mr. García will share his experience working directly with coca growing communities and explain what anti-narcotic programs have failed and which have failed miserably. He will also look at the potential impact of the proposed U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement on illicit coca cultivation.

Monday, July 13, 4:00PM
at the
Institute for Policy Studies
1112 16th St., NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC
(near McPherson Square and Farragut West Metro stops)

Andrés García:

Andrés García has a B.A. in International Development Studies and International Political Economy from Trent University in Ontario, Canada and holds an M.A. in Social Policy from the Universidad Javeriana Colombia. Mr. Garcia has authored a number of papers on economic policy and human development, and currently works as a consultant for Oxfam GB as the director of the qualitative study on small farmers who have adopted or abandoned the illicit production of coca crops.

For more information contact Sanho Tree stree@igc.org or call (202) 787-5266