Economic History in Brazil

Abstract

This paper analyses approximately 50,000 theses and dissertations submitted in history and economics departments over the past four decades, with the aim of mapping the evolution of economic history in Brazil and offering a guide for the future development of the field. Before turning to the empirical analysis, which focuses on the period from 1980 to 2022, I provide a historical overview ranging from the emergence of essayistic studies, which predominated until the 1950s, to the maturation of academic research. This process began in the 1960s with the contribution of the “Brazilianists” and became firmly established from the 1980s onwards, when the expansion of postgraduate programmes across different regions of the country consolidated monographic and specialised research as the dominant model within the discipline.