The 1990s represented for several Latin American countries, Brazil in particular, a remarkable period. New international scenario and changes in the traditional way of economic policymaking have led to an unprecedented economic environment, with low inflation rates, broader access to imported goods and reduced interference from the State, among other characteristics.By the end of such a unique period the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), a United Nations agency, sponsored a regionwide project of growth and equity in Latin America in the 1990s, as an effort to improve the knowledge of the economic reforms undertaken in Latin America during that decade. This book presents the main results of the project for the Brazilian economy, with systematic information and analysis of several aspects of those unprecedented changes. The works published here were made by well-known Brazilian experts, several of them with previous high-ranking experience in the public sector.

Renato Baumann is Chief of the Brazilian Office of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), a United Nations agency, and Professor of Economics at the Universidade de Brasilia.