Tropical Capitalism: The Industrialization of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 1897-1997

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This text traces the rise of Brazil’s second largest industrial centre, a planned city created in the 1890s as the capital of Minas Gerais, the nation’s second most populous state. The author examines the industrialization of Belo Horizonte as a representation of an extreme form of the pattern of Brazilian industrialization a variation of capitalism characterized by state intervention, clientelism, and family networks. At the core of the analysis are the webs of power formed by politicians, technocrats, and entrepreneurs who drove forward the process of industrialization. The book explores industrialization in Latin America, and looks beneath the larger, national economy to dissect a city and region. It moves beyond aggregate data and national statistics by using the archives of business groups, government agencies, company records, state and municipal level statistics, and interviews. The book interweaves the history of economic development, politics, elite family networks, and technology.