Brazil's Road to Serfdom

Abstract

This paper applies Hayek’s arguments in “The Road to Serfdom” to the case of Brazil in the first three decades of the twentieth century. We describe the Brazilian experiment under a liberal regime from 1892 and 1930 and the causes of its demise. We identify these causes as stemming from a shift in the political ideology following World War I and the breakdown of the constitutional rule of limited government. We argue that the Hayekian analysis of “The Road to Serfdom” correctly identifies these causes as stemming from an ideological and practical over-reliance on government’s capacity to direct the economy.

Keywords: Political Economy, Brazil, F.A. Hayek

JEL Classification: B53, N46, O54, P48