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), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

of the

Central Bank of Brazil The Central Bank of Brazil ( pt, Banco Central do Brasil) is Brazil's central bank. It was established on Thursday, 31 December 1964, a New Year's Eve. The bank is not linked to any ministry, currently being autonomous. Like other central banks, ...

Academic life

Schwartsman graduated in

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

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, with the mission to "stimulate Brazil’s socioeconomic development". Its ...

of São Paulo (FGV-SP), earned a

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

and

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an 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 practice.

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

from the

University of São Paulo The University of São Paulo ( pt, Universidade de São Paulo, USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian public university and the country's most prestigious educational institution, the best ...

, and earned a

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in Economics from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

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 ...

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 or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

ABN AMRO Bank ABN or abn may refer to: Companies * ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group * ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank * Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank Radio, news and television organizat ...

, 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 publication containing written 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 politics, business, sports a ...

Folha de S.Paulo ''Folha de S.Paulo'' (sometimes spelled ''Folha de São Paulo''), also known as simply ''Folha'' (, ''Sheet''), is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded in 1921 under the name ''Folha da Noite'' and published in São Paulo by the Folha da Manhã c ...

'' 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 and Grupo Folha and ha ...

''. He is a columnist at Rádio CBN and

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

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

Controversies

Schwartsman is known for his acid criticism on the

economic policies The economy of governments covers the systems for setting levels of taxation, government budgets, the money supply and interest rates as well as the labour market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions into the e ...

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 or ...

. His dismissal from

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

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 truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

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 general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...

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, th ...

, 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 people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the referen ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

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

IBGE The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ( pt, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information ...

References

External links

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

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

* {{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