“Sistemas Agrários em Paraíba do Sul (1850-1920) - Um estudo de relações não-capitalistas de produção”, de João Luís Fragoso^♦

Abstract

Review of an unpublished master’s dissertation by one of Brazil’s leading historians. Digital access to it, only recently made available, has revealed an innovative interpretation on one of Brazil’s economic history central questions: when, exactly, and why was there a crisis in coffee production at the Paraíba valley in the 19^th century? The author relates the widely used slash and burn technique to factor endowments (land abundance and labor scarcity), thus presenting a new explanation to the valley’s and Brazil’s coffee production history, hitherto widely ignored.