For a few hours a couple of weeks ago, when China published its most recent GDP figures, #PIBChina (translating to #ChinaGDP) was a top trending topic on twitter in Brazil. To see this fairly dry economic reference point of Brazil’s most valued trading partner in amongst Big Brotherisms and other assorted flavours of humour, vitriol [...]

Crowdfunding has come to Brazil, forming part of an emerging collaborative ecosystem that has the potential to shakeup traditional marketplaces, provide ideas with more avenues for development and add a layer to the economy that is easy to access, networked and pushed on by people. Catarse, Brazil’s first crowdfunding platform works much like its North [...]

Unemployment is at its lowest ever level since formal records began with over 2.5m jobs created in 2010. 2010 smashed the last highest year 2007 by almost 1m. Despite there being an adjustment in the measurement, this phenonemal total doent look like it will ease off in 2011 and shortages of qualified human capital across [...]

The NGO Our Sao Paulo Network and research firm IBOPE have published the 2010 results of their 2nd annual City Wellbeing Index (IRBEM). Covering a range of quality of life themes and with interviews from 1512 participants, the results showed almost no improvement from last year with an overall satisfaction score of 4.8 out of [...]

This is a video exec summary (5.00mins) of our report Brazil’s New Middle Classes: Redefining prosperity for a rebalancing planet. The report (out soon) first presented as paper at the EABIS Annual Colloquium in St Petersberg Sept 2010, charts the new middle classes emergence and sets it against the rebalancing global economy. It outlines threats [...]