Suchergebnisse

This article uses a case study to illustrate the dynamics of firm structure and property rights in Brazil during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The St. John d´el Rey Mining Company was a British mining company in Brazil. Its experiences demonstrate that, property rights were not under-specified; they were over-specified and varying provisions for rights were mutually inconsistent. Precise laws protected capital investment to such an extent that dissolving partnerships became problematic. At the same time, inheritance laws mandated partible division of personal estates among heirs. The mining company's history demonstrates the opportunities for posthumously emerged heirs, essentially, to claim partnership rights.

RESUMENEste trabajo presenta un visión panorámica de la evolución de la historiografía económica de la Primera República, para determinar las causas de la demora del desarrollo de las investigaciones sobre la historia financiera interna. Se argumenta que la atencion en los mercados internacionales, prevaleciente en el enfoque de la teoría de la dependencia, tuvo como consecuencia el descuido de la estructura de las finanzas internes. En tiempos recientes, los investigadores han dedicado mayor atención a los enfoques que subrayan el equilibrio entre los factores económicos internos e internacionales, incluyendo el análisis de las redes de distribución y las estructuras institucionales financieras. Esta perspective sugiere que, dentro del sector privado, una estabilidad financiera emergió durante la Primera República y que el campo de las finanzas contribuyó positivamente al crecimiento económico, a pesar de las vicisitudes de las finanzas públicas. Estas conclusiones tentativas ofrecen una perspectiva muy diferente sobre la naturaleza del desarrollo económico del Brasil y sugieren nuevas y desafiantes preguntas.

The diversity of the population of Brazil reflects its long history with slavery and as a recipient of emigrants from all over the world. Individuals forged aspects of their own identities by melding their (and their ancestors') origins with the realities of their experiences in Brazil. As with other countries that are composed of peoples of different origins, Brazilians have expended much effort in constructing their racial components as one aspect of their quest to define what it means to be "Brazilian." The historiography interpreting this process of constructing race in order to construct national identity is a large one. Despite the volume of research, curious incongruities remain. This essay focuses on the incongruity in the idea of race as it has developed with respect to Brazilians of African descent as compared to other peoples who came to be identified as non-white. The purposes for this exploration are to raise questions about "race" in Brazil and to suggest the Brazilian experience as a target for research on the broader question of the mutability of racial categorization.