Socioeconomic Challenges and Crises: Brazilian Illustration and the Search for a New Paradigm*

Economic Neoliberalism in its most perverse form has been recapturing the imagination of policy makers worldwide. It emerged in the context of a prolonged crisis, increasing unemployment and unsustainability in the public sector. Growth slowdown reflects several factors, including domestic errors of economic policies, lower commodity prices and structural bottlenecks. To overcome these problems, most of the dominant governmental proposals, reminiscent of questionable austerity strategies, reflect the Washington Consensus’ vision. Such a framework—mainly enforced by the financial elite and stimulated by the supporters of fictitious capital—underestimates the intricacy of fragile economies and does not answer some fundamental questions regarding their policies. Neoclassical-economics-based dominant austerity actions are not a proper scheme to deal with the vast challenges faced by some nations. Actually, we need a careful construction of a new multidisciplinary—socioeconomic, political, environmental—theory and programme to deal with the roots of our problems. This article sheds insights into the much needed new paradigm for those concerned about the required top-down reforms worldwide