cial restructuring” or the making of
the modern Brazil. According to the
author, the key was to pair privatization and debt restructuring to create a financial system that could for
the first time extend credit to the private sector.
1985, which came out after the Portuguese version—deals with much
of the same material but is recon-figured. Both are excellent analyses
of the changes and challenges that
Brazil has faced since its transition
to democracy.
FRESH LOOK
As part of this, discipline was in-
jected into administering public fi-
nances at the sub-national level so
that fiscal federalism could work,
despite the vicissitudes of the polit-
ical system. Privatization boosted
productivity and investment, and it
also helped finance the huge cost of
private and public debt restructuring
that Fishlow estimates at 14. 1 percent
of GDP. “Combined, these two pro-
cesses—financial restructuring and
privatization—contributed to the cre-
ation of a modern Brazil. Both served
the country well, despite criticism.”
Its companion English language
version, Starting Over: Brazil Since
Even that was not enough, however. Part of the “new deal” post-1998
was the incessant increase in the tax
burden, a historically unprecedented
doubling of the tax burden from 17
percent of GDP in 1997–1998 to 34
percent of GDP by 2008 and nearly
37 percent of GDP today. The point
here is that Cardoso built the fiscal
space that future governments have
used to fuel both growth and social
programs.
In El país de uno: Reflexiones para
entender y cambiar a México (My
Country: Insights to Understand
and Change Mexico), Denise Dresser
concludes that Mexico has no one to
blame but itself for its lackluster performance. Dresser, a distinguished
questions. But it frames the context
for an informed, objective discussion.
The larger contribution of Fishlow’s
work is to have produced an accessible, well-written and pithy account
of Brazilian economic, social and external policies in the past quarter of
a century, set in their specific political contexts.
Denise Dresser
Aguilar, 2011, Softcover, 351 pages
REVIEWED BY ERIC L. OLSON
This fiscal space came in handy
when Lula fought the external crisis
in 2009–2010 and went on a spending
spree to bolster the election prospects
of his successor.
Cardoso failed to build a leaner and
more efficient state. But he did create
the conditions for fiscal and financial stability. Lula wanted to create
a larger and more activist state but
resisted until 2009.
This is what we have today. The Brazilian private sector and the electorate at large endorse it wholeheartedly.
Is it sustainable? Can public expenditures continue to grow at a faster
rate than GDP, as they have done for
12 years since 1999? More importantly,
is this in the long run a contribution
to growth and welfare?
Despiteboastingthesecondlarg- est economy in Latin Amer- ica, a noteworthy record of
fiscal and economic management in
the midst of global turmoil, and envious commercial ties to the United
States, Mexico has failed to take its
rightful place as a global powerhouse.
Many observers wonder why Mexico
has not achieved its true potential.
What, for instance, has prevented
Mexico from joining the BRICS (
Brazil, Russia, India, China, and—now—
South Africa)?
O novo Brasil does not answer these
Paulo Vieira da Cunha is partner and head of emerging markets
research at Tandem Global Partners.
El país de uno: Reflexiones para
entender y cambiar a México
professor at the Instituto Tecnológico
Autónomo de México, columnist at P
ro-ceso magazine and editorial writer at
Reforma, offers a sharp, unflinching
and penetrating analysis of today’s
Mexico that traces much of the problem to the failure to live up to expectations raised by the 2000 electoral
defeat of the single-party state led
by the Partido Revolucionario Insti-tucional (Institutional Revolutionary
Party—PRI) for most of the previous
century.
Dresser uses each chapter to slowly
(and at times painfully) peel back the
layers of self-deception, hypocrisy
and even cynicism that have betrayed
the hopes of Mexicans. Her book employs some of the razor-sharp cadence
of her opinion columns—for which
she received the 2010 National Jour-
AMERICASQUARTERLY.ORG
133 Americas Quarterly WINTER 2012
