Alexandre Schwartsman is a Brazilian

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

, former Director of

International Affairs International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

of the

Central Bank of Brazil The Central Bank of Brazil (, ) is Brazil's central bank, the bank is autonomous in exercising its functions, and its main objective is to achieve stability in the purchasing power of the national currency. It was established on Thursday, 31 Dece ...

Academic life

Schwartsman graduated in

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

from

Fundação Getulio Vargas Fundação Getulio Vargas (''Getulio Vargas Foundation'', often abbreviated as FGV) is a Brazilian higher education institution and think tank founded on December 20, 1944. FGV is considered by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program of the ...

of São Paulo (FGV-SP), earned a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

and

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from the

University of São Paulo The Universidade de São Paulo (, USP) is a public research university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, and the largest public university in Brazil. The university was founded on 25 January 1934, regrouping already existing schools in ...

, and earned a

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in Economics from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Career

Between 1999 and 2001, Schwartsman was

chief economist Chief economist is a single-position job class having primary responsibility for the development, coordination, and production of economic and financial analysis. It is distinguished from the other economist positions by the broader scope of respons ...

at Crédit Agricole Indosuez, and from 2001 to 2002 at the BBA Corretora. In 2003, Schwartsman succeeded

Beny Parnes Beny Parnes (born May 24, 1959) is a Brazilian economist, former Director for International Affairs of the Central Bank of Brazil. He was married to Patrícia Carlos de Andrade, with whom he had three children. Academic life Parnes graduated ...

in the International Affairs Directorate of the

, where he remained until 2006. Between 2006 and 2008 he was chief economist for

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

ABN AMRO Bank ABN or abn may refer to: Aviation * IATA airport code for Albina Airstrip in Marowijne District, Suriname Companies * ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group * ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank * Al ...

, and from 2008 to 2011 he held the same position at Grupo Santander Brasil. Currently, in addition to being managing partner of ''Schwartsman & Associados Consultoria Econômica'', he writes the weekly

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

"Opinião Econômica" for the

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

'' Folha de S.Paulo'' and a monthly column for the ''

Valor Econômico ''Valor Econômico'' is the largest financial newspaper in Brazil, according to the Circulation Verification Institute (IVC). It is the result of a partnership between two of the country's largest media groups: Grupo Globo (via Editora Globo) ...

''. He is a columnist at Rádio CBN and

CNN Brazil CNN Brasil is a Brazilian news-based pay television channel and news website. Launched on 15 March 2020, CNN Brasil is owned by Novus Media, a joint-venture between Douglas Tavolaro, former header of Record's news division, and Rubens Menin, o ...

. His cousin, Hélio Schwartsman, is also a columnist at ''Folha''.

Controversies

Schwartsman is known for his acid criticism on the

economic policies ''Economic Policy'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford Academic on behalf of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, the Center for Economic Studies (University of Munich), and the Paris School of Economics. The jo ...

of the

Brazilian government The politics of Brazil take place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. The political and administrative ...

. His dismissal from Santander in 2011 was just attributed to his style, which some in the financial institution regarded as "aggressive" and "arrogant." Officially, Santander reported that the changes in its economic management aimed to "allow the bank to continue to grow." Schwartsman defended himself from the accusations, by denying the authorship of sharp criticisms about the Brazilian government, published on his own

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

by a supposed "Anonymous." In March 2013, Schwartsman issued another controversial opinion stating that a supposed lack of control over

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...

by the Brazilian government could only be solved by increasing the

interest rate An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, ...

, even if that meant layoffs. This at a time when the

unemployment rate Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work d ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

has reached one of its lowest historical levels (5.4% in January 2013, according to

IBGE The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil. IBGE performs a decennial national cen ...

References

External links

A Mão Visível – Personal blog
nbsp;
Alexandre Schwartsman's profile
at

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartsman, Alexandre Brazilian columnists Brazilian economists Brazilian Jews Writers from São Paulo University of California, Berkeley alumni University of São Paulo alumni 1963 births Living people