São Paulo, Amazon, Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

Faculty Leader: Marc Modica

Host Institution: Insper

Academic Program

The Brazilian economy is one of the ten largest in the world. Brazil has a very dynamic and diversified economic environment, encompassing manufacturing, agricultural, services and mining activities. The country is the seventh largest automobile manufacturer, the third largest civil aircraft manufacturer and the first largest ethanol, coffee and soybean producer in the world.

Brazil has about 180 million inhabitants. During the last hundred years, people from many different nationalities immigrated to the country, mainly from Portugal, Italy, Germany, Spain and Japan. The presence of organizations from these and other countries (EUA, England, Sweden, France and many others) is remarkable and begun in the middle of the 20th century. 

The current economic, social and political context, supported by massive privatization and the taming of inflation during the 1990s, makes Brazil an interesting alternative for investment, although improvements in terms of infrastructure, fiscal and labor legislation are clearly needed.

Watch a video interview with a past participant of the Brazil GBE here.

Helpful City/Country Links

U.S. State Department, including Tips for Travelling Abroad and the Consular Information Sheet
CIA World Fact Book
Official site of Brazil's government
Brazil's Tourism Office
Website listing several interesting links related to tourism, culture, literature, politics and the economy in Brazil.
One of Brazil's largest news portals.
Check out Segment One (of five) of “Tony Bourdain em São Paulo” on YouTube for a view of Sao Paulo’s Mercado Municipal, the afternoon stop on day three of the Brazil GBE program. You can see the famous Mortedella Sandwich and get a sense of the market.