Financialization, non-financial corporations and the recent economic cycle in the Brazilian economy.

Abstract

This paper analyzes the changes in the equity strategies of non-financial corporations during the 2000s based on the literature on financialization and Minsky’s financial fragility hypothesis. The empirical analysis shows that internal repercussions of the 2008 international financial crisis resulted in an increase in the financial fragility of non-financial corporations, which largely explains the current recession. The contribution of the paper is to show the appropriateness of Minsky's financial fragility hypothesis to explain the reversal of the expansionary investment cycle observed in the mid-2000s and the process of financialization in the Brazilian economy.

Keywords:
Financialization; Brazilian economy; Minsky’s cycle; Nonfinancial firms; Investment