Denationalization and financialization: a study on Brazilian privatization (from the Collor government to FHC’s first term)

Abstract

This article discusses the main privatizations that took place during the Collor, Itamar and FHC governments. Primarily meeting the international oligopolistic capital objectives, the privatizations resulted in the denationalization of the Brazilian economy and improved financialization. Firstly, the article debates the neoliberal policies in Brazil during the 1990’s that resulted in the selling of state companies at lower prices in some suspicious auctions. Secondly, it discusses the changes in the legal framework and to a number of privatized companies (Usiminas; CST; CSN; PQU; Embraer; Telebrás; CVRD e Light), based on BNDES documents, laws, decrees and newspapers.

Keywords:
Privatization; Neoliberalism; Denationalization