Global Financial Crisis and Capital Flows Management in Brazil: Towards a Polanyian Approach

Abstract

Have Brazil’s capital flows management measures (CFMs) changed after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC)? This article explains Brazil’s CFMs after the GFC as part of a (failed) attempt to gradually move away from embedded neoliberalism. It proposes a Polanyian approach that captures both the change (emphasized by the policy space approach) and the continuity (underscored by the scalar-relational and financialization approaches) underlying Brazil’s CFMs after the GFC. It argues that the change stems from the conflict between different political economy coalitions, while the continuity is rooted in the shared acceptance of major objectives of neoliberalism—capital mobility and financial integration.