LIBERALISM OR ASSOCIATED DEVELOPMENTALISM? AN INTERPRETATION OF DUTRA’S ECONOMIC POLICY (1946-1950)

Abstract

There is a controversy on the literature about the Dutra administration economic policy (1946-50): whether it can be considered continuation or rupture in relation to the industrialization project through import substitution that took place in Brazil since the 1930s. Thus, we argue that there is evidence of continuity with respect to economic development policies. In addition, we also propose the debate should not be focused on “liberalism or orthodoxy”, as other authors advocate, but on another style or pattern of developmentalism, different from Vargas’ “national developmentalism”, as Dutra was more favorable to foreign investment and greater integration to the international economy. In this sense, we conclude that the Dutra administration, although representing continuity with regard to industrialization, foreshadows or anticipates development policies later executed by the Kubitschek administration (1956-1960).