Here is the video, audio, and transcript. Here is a summary of the episode:
It’s not just churrasco that made him fall in love with Brazil. Brian Winter has been reading and writing about Latin America for over 20 years. He has been tracking the struggles and triumphs of the region as it faced decades of coups, violence, and economic upheaval. His work offers a unique perspective on Latin America’s ongoing challenges and remarkable resilience.
Together Brian and Tyler discuss politics and economics in almost every country from the equator down. They include the future of immigration in Brazil, what it is doing well in agriculture, cultural change in ethnic politics, crime in Rio and São Paulo, the effectiveness and future results of the Bukele police district in El Salvador, the growth of the economy of Colombia despite the progress. violence, the rise of startups and psychoanalysis in Argentina, Uruguay’s reduction in poverty levels, the beautiful evils of Sao Paulo, where Brian will explore next, and more.
And here is one episode;
COWEN: What will Brazil’s economic situation look like? All the riches near Mato Grosso and the north are very poor? Or the north pours? How will that work? There used to be others decent balance.
WINTER: Of course. Most of Brazil’s population and economic center, of course, was in the southeast. That means, of course, the state of São Paulo, which is about a quarter of Brazil’s population but about a third of its GDP. Rio as well, and the state of Minas Gerais, which has a name that tells its history. That means “common mines” in Portuguese. That is where most of the gold came from in the 18th and 19th centuries. That’s gone now, so it’s not that much of an economic drag.
You’re right, Tyler, though, that a lot of the real boom right now, the action, is in places like Mato Grosso, which is in a region of Brazil called the Central West. That’s soy country. I’m from Texas, and Mato Grosso is almost indistinguishable from Texas these days. It’s hot. It is flat. The crop, as I said, is soybeans. Cattle have been raised.
Even the music—Brazil, as some have noted, has gone from being the country of bossa nova and samba in the 1970s to the country of sertanejo today. Sertanejo is the Brazilian cousin of country music with accordions, but it’s sung by people – mostly men – in jeans, big belt buckles, and cowboy hats. They are importing that – not only that economic model but also that way of life.
COWEN: What is the best Brazilian music today? MPB is dead, right? So, what should one listen to?
Recommended, interesting throughout.
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