The Growth Model of the PT Governments: A Furtadian View of the Limits of Recent Brazilian Development

• Date: 01 January 2020
• Published date: 01 January 2020
• Author: Pedro Rossi,Guilherme Mello,Pedro Paulo Zahluth Bastos
• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X19891700
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X19891700

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 230, Vol. 47 No. 1, January 2020, 100–114

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X19891700

© 2019 Latin American Perspectives

100

The Growth Model of the PT Governments

A Furtadian View of the Limits of Recent

Brazilian Development

by

Pedro Rossi, Guilherme Mello, and Pedro Paulo Zahluth Bastos

Translated by

Luis Fierro

Evaluation of the growth model of the PT governments based on the contributions of

Celso Furtado reveals that the recent growth cycle has alleviated the typical characteristics

of underdevelopment by developing a mass consumption market and improving labor

market conditions. However, the limitations of the model prevented modernizing the

structure of production to sustain changes on the demand side, including labor in sectors

with higher productivity, limiting the control of foreign subsidiaries, and reducing the

structural vulnerability inherent in specialization in basic commodities exports. The lim-

its of the model were aggravated by the crisis of 2008–2009, revealing the difficulty of

incorporating a peripheral economy like the Brazilian into global capitalism.

Uma avaliação do modelo de crescimento dos governos do PT a partir da contribuição

de Celso Furtado revela que o ciclo de crescimento recente amenizou características típicas

do subdesenvolvimento ao desenvolver um mercado de consumo de massa no Brasil e ao

melhorar as condições no mercado de trabalho. No entanto, as limitações do modelo não

permitiram modernizar a estrutura produtiva de forma a sustentar as transformações do

lado da demanda, incluir a mão de obra em setores de maior produtividade, limitar o con-

trole das filiais estrangeiras, e diminuir a vulnerabilidade estrutural inerente à especial-

ização em exportações de commodities básicas. Os limites do modelo de desenvolvimento

adotado se agravaram após a crise de 2008–2009, revelando as dificuldades de inserção de

uma economia periférica como a brasileira no capitalismo global.

Keywords: Celso Furtado, Growth model, Neoliberalism, Dilma, Lula

The Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party—PT) government cycle

ended dramatically, with a sharp contraction in economic activity in 2015 and

2016 after a few years of slowdown. In the context of political and institutional

crisis, interpretations of the slowdown and the economic crisis are still affected

by the lack of historical distance and by a fierce political dispute over the eco-

nomic narrative. Although reflecting diverse theoretical positions, these inter-

pretations focus mainly on possible errors in the conduct of economic policy.

Orthodox interpretations attribute the economic failure to the excesses of state

interventionism and heterodox macroeconomic policies. In this interpretation,

Pedro Rossi, Guilherme Mello, and Pedro Paulo Zahluth Bastos are professors in the Institute of

Economics of the University of Campinas. Luis Fierro is a translator living in the Miami area.

891700LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X19891700Latin American PerspectivesRossi et al. / Growth Model Of The Pt Governments

research-article2019