Brazilian Economy in 2014–2019: the Nature of Crisis and Recovery

Since 2014 Brazil, which is one of the largest economies in the world, has faced a dramatic crisis that has a complicated nature as it consists of three main aspects: economic, social, and political. The country went through the acute phase of the crisis in 2015-2016 and has shown signs of recovery since 2017. This paper examines the features of the economic policies of Lula da Silva’s and Dilma Rousseff’s governments. This study aims to show that the economic crisis and recession of 2014-2019 consist of overlapping phenomena: an external demand shock on commodities and the problem of Brazil being in a middle-income trap. For this purpose, methods of both qualitative and quantitative analysis are applied, i.e. regression analysis of several macroeconomic indicators. The main finding of the study is that Brazil's transition to sustainable economic growth requires comprehensive structural economic reforms, as well as addressing the social and political problems.