The case gives readers an overview of key factors of doing business in Brazil, including Brazil's economic transformation since its colonial years until 2023, when leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sworn in for his third term, after the most polarized elections in the country's recent history and having to deal with an attack against government buildings in Brasília. The case's ultimate goal is to foster a discussion about how political and economic uncertainty impacts consumer behavior and companies operating in Brazil. For that, it summarizes the key obstacles faced by these businesses, such as the country's logistical bottlenecks, complex bureaucracy and arcane tax system. At the same time, the case sheds light on the sectors that are thriving despite these difficulties and on some valuable opportunities offered by Brazil's huge consumer market and diversified economy.

In June 2021, Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's president, surprised the world with the announcement that the country would adopt bitcoin as legal tender, becoming the first nation to do so. Bitcoin was mostly used for trading and had one of the most volatile track records among assets. Yet, crypto adoption as a medium of exchange was starting to gain pace worldwide. Bukele claimed it would be a boon for financial inclusion, investment, innovation, and economic development. El Salvador's $27 billion economy suffered from persistently low growth, high public debt, and a strong dependence on remittances, which could potentially become cheaper and faster to access in bitcoins. The Bitcoin plan was met with both enthusiasm from Bitcoin supporters and skepticism from credit agencies and multilateral finance institutions, which believed it could bring macroeconomic instability to the local economy. Was bitcoin a viable currency for Salvadorans? Or, as some observers pointed out, was Bukele's plan another sign of weakened governance in his administration?

On May 26, 2020, Latam Airlines became the largest airline in the world to be driven to bankruptcy by COVID-19. With a complex debt structure and international investor composition, the company decided to file for bankruptcy protection in the United States, which offered a more flexible reorganization procedure than the local bankruptcy process. After the filing announcement, the company reached an all-time-low stock market valuation. Some experts questioned whether the bankruptcy filing of Latam Airlines in the United States could be detrimental for the development of the Chilean capital market. Even if the company succeeded financially, would it be able to adapt to a different way of flying post-COVID?

In the first months of 2020, a pandemic overwhelmed the world. COVID-19, commonly known as the coronavirus, spread from China and created a severe public health emergency across countries. While an immediate fear of the disease's impact on human life permeated society, the world battled another concern for the severe economic downturn that was brought about by attempts to suppress the virus. World trade, tourism, capital flows, remittances, and commodity prices collapsed. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the global GDP growth rate for 2020 was expected to be close to 2.3%. As of April 2020, multilateral organizations estimated that GDP would contract by 3% - way worse than the 0.1% contraction of 2009, and the deepest dive since the Great Depression. What policy options existed to mitigate the financial and economic distress of containment, and what factors did different countries weigh in deciding which paths to choose? Was there a terrible choice - either damage livelihoods through extended lockdowns, or sacrifice thousands or even millions of lives to the virus - or were policies reinforcing? What was the role of government, businesses, communities and individuals? After the worst of the health crisis was mitigated, what kind of shape would world economies take?

For the past few decades, Australia has dealt with the benefits and costs of repeated mining booms-inflation, a housing bubble, a current account deficit, and growing dependence on China. Between 1996 and 2007, however, Australia had most of these issues under control and grew at impressive rates, becoming one of the richest of developed countries. Yet competitiveness in its non-mining sectors declined. Since the financial crisis, additional challenges associated with climate change, minerals taxes, migration, fiscal deficits, and currency fluctuations have complicated the issues facing both Labor and Liberal administrations, with a very thin majority. Meanwhile, Australia's non-mineral competitiveness continues to recede.

Supplement to 717028. The UK was due to leave the EU in March 2019 after a referendum vote in June 2016. Following additional extensions and multiple failed attempts to reach an agreement with Parliament, Theresa May stepped down as Conservative Party leader and was replaced by Boris Johnson. Johnson claimed that Brexit would happen "come what may". This case outlines the major controversial issues and compares Theresa May's agreement to Boris Johnson's.

In the decades following 2005, China faced significant financial challenges. Inflation spiraled upwards and China's economy stagnated in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. The country's leaders took an interventionist approach to weather the storm, controlling capital and exchange rates. These actions raised criticism from other nations, and in 2017 the U.S. initiated the U.S.-China Trade Wars, which enforced tariffs and requirements for increased transparency. As implications of the trade wars remained uncertain, many wondered whether the central bank would introduce further discreet steps to change the yuan. Would China's currency appreciate as substantially against the U.S. dollar as predicted by economists? And when would further change occur? The stakes were high; a freer yuan float would impact groups within and outside of China very differently. Would China's currency then be allowed to depreciate or appreciate if fundamentals required it?

For decades, Chile enjoyed the stability of being the world's largest producer of copper. Keynes would have advised that this period of growth would have been the time for the government to save, that "the boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity at the Treasury." If this wisdom has proven true on multiple occasions since Keynes's statement in 1937, why do countries continue to conduct procyclical fiscal and monetary policies? Economists have documented this phenomenon across countries and found that particularly for emerging markets, capital inflows tend to coincide with expansionary macroeconomic policies while periods of capital outflows correspond with contractionary policies. Why is it so difficult for governments of emerging market countries to save during economic booms? By analyzing economic and social factors that contributed to unrest in Chile, students will wrestle with economic and ethical questions about balancing the needs of current and future generations.

Supplement to 717028.

In the early 21st century, there was a noticeable trend of declining productivity growth. Despite the persistent decline in productivity growth, a consensus on its explanation had not been reached. Some of the debate focused on the technicalities of productivity measurement, and the structural shift involved with the increased usage and introduction of robots in place of workers, garnering the interest of academic economists, businesses and policymakers. Another contention was whether declining productivity was the result of secular stagnation, a more permanent economic state of low growth and lack of economic progress, or whether it was the result of deleveraging and the post-Global Financial Crisis period, a mere cyclical phase. Distilling the sources and drivers of productivity decline was further complicated by the rise in economic integration across countries, and even more so considering research findings that research and innovation was becoming less productive and more difficult. What, if anything, was the role of government? Should businesses play a role? If so what should they do?

The American shale revolution has upended oil and gas markets for nearly a decade...Prices have risen then plunged, production has surged and then waned, LNG has boomed and technology and productivity have improved. U.S. energy policy, under the Obama administration,authorized a handful of gas exporters, despite pressure from domestic chemical and utility interests, and approved oil exports for the first time in 40 years. Environmental issues and questions remain unresolved. No one knows for certain what America's energy trajectory will look like in the next decade.

After more than 40 years of membership in the European Union, the United Kingdom voted via referendum to separate from the EU on June 23, 2016. Following the surprise verdict (termed Brexit), a political upheaval followed, with many ministers, including Prime Minister David Cameron, resigning or being sacked, and markets collapsed. As markets recovered, Theresa May was chosen as the new prime minister of the UK in charge of leading the separation. The future of the UK and its relationship with Europe was uncertain. No country had ever left the EU before, so there was no precedent to follow and no clear indication of what the UK planned to do after exiting. Why had the British voted to leave? Would the UK and the EU be able to agree on a mutually beneficial arrangement? What would be the effects, politically and economically, on the UK and European countries? The impact of the disunion on the relationship between the EU and the UK was yet to be seen.

In late December 2014, Shinzo Abe was elected to another term as the prime minister of Japan. His re-election was largely interpreted as a vote of confidence for his economics policies, collectively referred to as "Abenomics." Comprised of three "arrows," including expansionary monetary policy, fiscal stimulus, and structural reform, these strategies were designed to reverse Japan's two-decade long challenge with deflation and sluggish growth. Japan also faced several worrisome structural issues, including a demographic crisis, strict labor regulations, and low wage growth, despite low unemployment, in addition to a debt balance that reached 240% of GDP. As the Abe government launched a second round of quantitative easing, totaling ¥80 trillion per year, many wondered, would Abe's three arrows be enough to reverse Japan's problems with economic growth, rising debt, and persistent deflation?