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- Title
Inflation and Economic Development in Brazil 1946-1963.
- Authors
Ness, Jr., Walter L.
- Abstract
At the end of 1963, the consumer price index in Rio de Janeiro was 468% of what it had been at the beginning of 1946. In his study Raouf Kahil meticulously examines the postwar inflation in Brazil. The Study is primarily valuable for its clear articulation and detailed testing of the various structuralist theories concerning the causes of inflation. After a short introduction on Brazilian geography and economic history (Part 1), Kahil embarks on a lengthy journey (Part 2) through the numerous structuralist hypotheses that contend inflation is inevitable in the economic development process and should not be suppressed. The hypotheses are classified according to structural problems occurring in the agricultural sector, urbanization, the supply of capital, and the external sector. With few exceptions, structuralist theories such as the inelasticity of supply of foodstuffs, the demand expansion caused by urbanization, the inflexibility of voluntary savings through non-inflationary means, and systematic decline in the terms of trade are found to be unsupported by evidence or unimportant in effect. Only in the section (pp. 117-8) relating urbanization to import requirements does the analysis appear less than thorough.
- Subjects
INFLATION &; Economic Development in Brazil, 1946-1963 (Book); KAHIL, Raouf; ECONOMIC development; NONFICTION
- Publication
Journal of Finance (Wiley-Blackwell), 1973, Vol 28, Issue 4, p1068
- ISSN
0022-1082
- Publication type
Book Review
- DOI
10.2307/2978375