Marcio Pochmann (born April 19, 1962) is a Brazilian economist, academic, and politician who has served as President of the

Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics 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 ...

(IBGE), a research institute of the Ministry of Planning and Budget, since August 2023. Pochmann, a former professor at the

State University of Campinas The University of Campinas (), commonly called Unicamp, is a public research university in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil. Established in 1962, Unicamp was designed from scratch as an integrated Research institute, researc ...

(UNICAMP), previously served as President of the

Institute of Applied Economic Research The Institute for Applied Economic Research ( Portuguese: ''Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada'', Ipea) is a Brazilian government-led research organization dedicated to generating macroeconomical, sectorial and thematic studies in order to b ...

from 2007 to 2012, during the

first presidency of Lula da Silva The fist tenure of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the president of Brazil began on 1 January 2003 when Lula was inaugurated as the 35th president, and ended on 1 January 2011. A Workers' Party candidate, it was his fourth candidacy for this off ...

and the presidency of Dilma Rousseff. He also served as the Secretary of Development, Labor, and Solidarity for the

City of São Paulo A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

during the mayorship of

Marta Suplicy Marta Teresa Smith de Vasconcellos Suplicy (; born 18 March 1945) is a Brazilian politician, sexologist and psychologist. She was Mayor of São Paulo from 2001 to 2004. She later served as the Brazilian Minister of Tourism between 14 March 2007 ...

. A member of the

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

, Pochmann unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of

Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in São Paulo (state), São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's popul ...

in 2012 and 2016, both times losing to Jonas Donizette. Pochmann also ran for Federal Deputy for

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

in 2018 but was not elected.

Life and career

Pochmann was born in

Venâncio Aires Venâncio Aires is a city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It is the capital of chimarrão, with approximately 72,000 inhabitants. The main industry is tobacco. See also *Esporte Clube Guarani Esporte Clube Guarani, commonly referre ...

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

, in 1962, to Clyde Pochmann and Lilian Pochmann. He is married to Daisy, with whom he has two children.

Education

In 1984, he graduated in Economics from the

Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul The Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (, UFRGS) is a Brazilian Public university, public National university, federal research university based in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. UFRGS is among the largest and highest-rated universities ...

(UFRGS). From 1985 to 1988, he studied postgraduate studies in Political Science at the Central University of the Federal District, in Brasília, Federal District. In 1993, Pochmann completed a doctorate in Economic Sciences at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), defending the dissertation entitled ''Labor and Income Guarantee Policies in Changing Capitalism''.

Public career

Pochmann began his public career in 2001.

City of São Paulo

In 2001, Pochmann was appointed municipal secretary of Development, Labor and Solidarity for the

city of São Paulo A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

by mayor

In this role, he was responsible for managing social inclusion and job creation programs.

Institute for Applied Economic Research

In 2007, Pochmann assumed the presidency of the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), after receiving an invitation from Minister Mangabeira Unger. At the time, Ipea had 500 workers. Pochmann's selection for the position was considered a strengthening of the developmental wing of President

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...

's government. Pochmann's management at the institute was heavily questioned due to controversies related to rigging and allegations of political persecution. He was accused of using a research body for political purposes and framing studies to pursue

heterodox economics Heterodox economics is a broad, relative term referring to schools of economic thought which are not commonly perceived as belonging to mainstream economics. There is no absolute definition of what constitutes heterodox economic thought, as it i ...

. Pochmann resigned the position to run for Mayor of

in 2012.

Perseu Abramo Foundation

In 2012, the National Directory of the Workers' Party appointed Pochmann as president of the Perseu Abramo Foundation, the party's

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

. He served in this position while concurrently running for Mayor of

in 2016 and Federal Deputy in 2018. Pochmann held the role until 2020 when he was replaced by former senator

Aloizio Mercadante Aloizio Mercadante Oliva (born 13 May 1954 in Santos, São Paulo) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the Chief of Staff of Brazil between 2014 and 2015. He was a founder of the Workers' Party in February 1980 and vice-chairma ...

Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics

In July 2023, he was appointed to preside over the

(IBGE) by President

Controversy over appointment

According to some journalists, the choice of Pochmann caused discomfort among the team at the Ministry of Planning and Budget, who had perfered a technocratic rather than political appointement, like that of Luciana Servo at IPEA. Controversies emerged between Tebet and Lula over the nomination, as Tebet was not consulted. Tebet said in a statement that " Minister Pimenta, not knowing that in the meeting we had with the president we had not mentioned the name, announced it preliminarily. And it has already been placed. The name will be made official at the right time, after the conversation we will have next week with President Lula . We will accept any name that comes." The '' Buenos Aires Times'' reported that Pochmann's leftist economic views are considered "too extreme even by members of Lula's economic team, who worry about damage to IBGE's credibility...after Pochmann's years at IPEA,

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

were controversial and caused several economists who did not agree with him to leave the organisation."

Tenure

In August 2023, with a ceremony at the ministry's headquarters in

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

, he assumed the presidency of IBGE. In November, Pochmann said in a lecture to employees that he intended to change the research dissemination model, not going through press conferences by the mainstream media.

Elections

Publications

Awards

Works

Having published over 50 books, Boitempo Editorial noted these works: *''O emprego na globalização'' (2001) *''O emprego no desenvolvimento da nação'' (2008) *''Margem Esquerda n°15'' (2010) *''Nova classe média? O trabalho na base da pirâmide social brasileira'' (2012) *''Margem Esquerda 23: Dossiê: Brasil, que desenvolvimento?'' (2014) *''O mito da grande classe média'' (2014) *''Margem Esquerda 29'' (2017)

Notes

References

Brazilian economists Brazilian politicians {{DEFAULTSORT:Pochmann, Marcio 1962 births Living people