Challenges and opportunities for Brazil

Authored by Professor Mariana Mazzucato

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Innovation-driven inclusive and sustainable growth: challenges and opportunities for Brazil

UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, policy report no. 2023/06

Authors:

• Mariana Mazzucato | Director and Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value | University College London, Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP)

Reference:

Mazzucato, M. (2023). Innovation-driven inclusive and sustainable growth: challenges and opportunities for Brazil. UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Policy Report 2023/06. Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/Brazil Policy Report/2023-06

About this report

This policy brief is part of a collaboration between the Brazilian government and the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, and reflects preliminary insights. A more in-depth report will follow in 2024. It was developed by the author with support from Sarah Doyle and Luca Kuhn von Burgsdorff.
 
The Government of Brazil has set itself a bold vision for an economic transformation that reconciles tackling climate change, protecting the Amazon area and prioritising equity and inclusion with robust economic growth. This agenda has the potential to put Brazil on a path of renewal and to provide a globally relevant demonstration of the policy choices that are needed to shape a sustainable and inclusive economy that is driven by purpose-oriented investments and innovation.
 
Underlying this vision is a new framing of the role of the state in directing growth and shaping markets that work for people and planet. This contrasts with the more established view of economic policy as, at best, fixing market failures. This established view has led to patchy policies, with government departments working in a siloed way and treating investments in one area as coming at the expense of investments in another, and to policies aimed at filling ‘finance gaps’ rather than shaping the economy and finance to deliver on social and environmental goals. By putting the ecological transition at the heart of economic policy, the Government of Brazil is setting a different course – one that could turn social and environmental challenges into opportunities for cross-sectoral investment, innovation, collaboration and growth.
 
However, bringing economic, social and environmental goals into alignment will require a coordinated approach that engages all ministries and all sectors of the economy, as well as investments in the state’s capacity to actively and confidently shape markets and direct growth.

In the Media

• A nova estrategia industrial brasileira (A new Brazilian Industrial Strategy) |  Interview with Prof. Mariana Mazzucato | Valor Economico
• Governo deve mirar no resultado de políticas e não em indicadores macroeconômicos, diz influente economista (Government should aim at the result of policies and not and not at macroeconomic indicators, says influential economist)  |  Interview with Prof. Mariana Mazzucato | Valor Economico