Less than a decade ago, Brazil was described as an economic superpower. Since then optimism faded as the Brazilian economy slid into a pattern of low growth and high inflation. What has gone wrong beyond the well documented problems in fiscal and monetary management? This book attempts to understand this reversal of fortunes by focusing on microeconomic policies that have an impact on the use and allocation of resources, ranging from credit to fiscal incentives, to innovation and trade policy instruments. This volume offers a detailed critique of these policies, whose inspiration seems to be...