Tim Harcourt on Bolsonaro: “I don’t like people calling him the ‘Tropical Trump’”

Tim Harcourt talks to SBS Portuguese about Brazil’s economy and political landscape under a new president. The country - which Tim Harcourt visits twice a year - features in his new TV series ‘The Airport Economist” where he explores the opportunities in South America and shows successful Australian businessmen living and working in ‘Latin America’s rising super power’ as well as the local culture. Renowned economist Tim Harcourt is a best-selling author, J.W. Nevile Fellow in Economics at the UNSW Business School and former Austrade Chief Economist.

Source: BW/SBS Portuguese

The episode about Brazil was recently featured on Harcourt’s TV series The Airport Economist (on the Australian ‘Your Money’ Channel) and is also available online. You can watch ‘The Airport Economist goes to Brazil” here.   

After vising Brazil a few times and more recently to produce his latest show, Tim Harcourt spoke to SBS Portuguese about the country's political landscape under the new president Jair Bolsonaro:

“What’s interesting about Brazil is that still has incredible resources, agriculture, renewable energy, huge aviation sector, it still got the scale that you need in South America to be a major player and that’s not going to change no matter who the president is.”

“There is a rise of economic populism both from the right and the left, I don’t like people calling him [Bolsonaro] the ‘tropical Trump’.  I think Brazil has its own political system, it is a major player in the world economy. I think to compare everything with Trump is wrong, Brazil has its own traditions and its own politics, populism does have some resonance on the left and on the right but I think it is better to see it in Brazilian terms, not comparing to the United States.”

From left to right: The Airport Economist Tim Harcourt and businesswomen Daniele de Jesus and Monica Sweeney and architect Simone Bigoto in conversation with Beatriz Wagner. Source: SBS Portuguese

“Still people see everything through Trump and Brexit eyes. When I went to Porto Alegre for the first time, years ago, PT (political party) was in power, there were lots of hopes, there was 'bolsa família', a lot of people was pulled out of poverty, so it is a bit of a shame that things ended up the way they did, but on the other hand Brazilians are saying ‘we are routing out corruption, putting senior politicians in jail, and we’ve done the same with businessmen after the Petrobras and the car wash scandal’. I think Brazilians want to ensure their institutions are democratic and clean in the future."

The UNSW Business School

Many of Tim’s MBA students at UNSW are from Brazil and, according to him, very vocal. “At an MBA class you want people to be great communicators, and Brazilians are great communicators.”  

“Brazilians around the world are very successful in architecture, in academia, in business. They have a talent. It would be great to see the talent you find particularly in Brazilians living in Australia put into the political system back home in Brazil,” he says.

Listen to the full interview by clicking on the ‘play’ button on the image above. You can watch ‘The Airport Economist goes to Brazil” here.

Siga-nos no Facebook, Twitter e Instagram