Before talking about market, investment, development, and economic concepts, it’s important to understand the different ideas from capitalism and socialism. Capitalism is a system where people are encouraged to invest, generate value, and are rewarded for their efforts. Government intervention is limited, and different points of view are respected - or should be.
In socialist countries like Venezuela and Cuba, people aren’t free to have or express their own ideas, or own properties because the state controls everything, the market, the media and even the food that people are allowed to buy, because there is not enough for everyone. In addition people who are born in socialist countries can't just leave the country without permission, and this is why we see many immigrants from socialist countries in capitalist countries.
Brazilian economist Renata Barreto explains that developed countries like New Zealand and Singapore are successful because of their free market policies. Among 184 countries listed in the Heritage.org rank, Brazil is the 143th in terms of economic freedom because of taxation from bureaucracy and policies about property, investments, employment, besides legal uncertainty.
According to the Austrian economist Ludwig Von Mises “Socialism and democracy are irreconcilable”. In conclusion, Brazil is not a socialist country, but it is much closer to their controlling policies than to capitalist countries, like Norway and Switzerland, for example.
Image: Heritage.org
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