Higher Education, the Academic Profession, and Economic Development in Brazil

Abstract

With 192 million inhabitants and more than two trillion dollars of gross domestic product in 2010, Brazil has one of the largest economies in the world and, with about US$11,000 per capita, is an upper-middleincome country. In the last ten years, the country has benefited from the expansion of international trade and is a major exporter of agricultural, mineral, and also manufactured products. Most of the population lives in large urban settlements, such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Belo Horizonte, and Salvador. Social and economic inequality, still one of the highest in the world, is improving; and absolute poverty is being reduced. Brazil is a federation, with 27 states and more than 5,000 municipalities, with the central government playing a major role in tax collection and distribution of social services and benefits. Taxes amount to about 37 per cent of the gross domestic product—the highest percentage in Latin America and similar to that of developed welfare states—without, however, providing similar types of services. Most of the tax revenue supports an oversized public bureaucracy, social security, and the service of public debt.