Introduction: Case studies in Brazil’s economy

When Werner Baer convened the economists and historians who have collaborated in this volume, he had the intention of bringing new focus to the granularity of economic and entrepreneurial experiences. Long critical of “aggregate” approaches to the study of economics, he sought to combine a series of lenses that could raise new questions about the Brazilian economy. We can see these lenses line up in the following way: first, this is a study of Brazil as an example of the experiences of emerging economies; second, it is an effort to think about how key institutions work within Brazil's economic, political, and cultural contexts. To accomplish this, the authors have focused on case studies of businesses, entrepreneurs and institutions. These case studies reveal particularities about Brazil's economy, interpreted through the ways in which individuals and enterprises have recognized and navigated them.