Financialization of the Brazilian Economy: Elites, Property and Financial Intermediaries

• Grant number: 24/17054-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: November 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Julio Cesar Donadone
• Grantee: Julio Cesar Donadone
• Host Investigator: Ismail Er Turk
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Manchester, England

Abstract

Financialization involves the increasing role of financial channels as a profit pattern and implies significant structural, normative, and symbolic changes in the markets and society. However, financialization is not a homogeneous, one-dimensional, and linear process, especially in emerging economies. To explore this issue for the Brazilian reality, this project examines the dynamics of financialization from multiple levels of analysis. At the macro level, 1) We explore the dynamics of the financial elite by examining the growth of the investment fund and exchange-traded fund markets in Brazil. 2)At the meso level, we identified the change in the shareholding of exchanged investment funds (ETFs) in the largest Brazilian companies. and 3) at the micro level, we explore the expansion of robots by investment brokers as one of the implications of the financialization of economic life. The research methodology is exploratory, historical, and documentary. We used descriptive data and archives from several sources. We used the descriptive, social network analysis and narrative as the analysis method. Results indicate a significant increase in the investment fund market,especially, the exchanged-trade funds (ETFs). The net assets of ETF funds grew by a significant 2,993.36% from 2004 to 2021 in Brazil. Results suggest one expressive expansion of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as shareholders of Brazilian companies. Results also suggest an expansion of robots and technological devices through investment brokers, banks, and fintechs. The project researchs how financial intermediaries affect the dynamics of financialization by increasing income, structural intermediation, and generating new ideas in the financial world. In particular, the paper highlights the social embeddedness of finance and the social networks and devices that shape financial practices in the Brazilian reality.