Problem Spreads Internally "For a while, debt negotiations seemed to offer a way out of the crisis," one Brazilian economist remarked.

"Clinton made a big error," said Edmar Bacha, a banker and leading Brazilian economist.

"Because the crises keep being 'resolved' and then coming back, something must be wrong with the strategy," one Brazilian economist noted.

Samuel Benchimol (1924-2002), was a Jewish Brazilian economist, scientist and professor.

Some Brazilian economists complain of "jobless growth," but increased productivity means that exports surge alongside imports.

Claudio de Souza, a cheerful Brazilian economist turned hotelier, met me at the motel office.

Prices jumped 366 percent last year and Brazilian economists expect the inflation rate to reach 600 percent this year.

Celso Furtado, 84, Brazilian economist, heart attack.

By the end of the decade, Brazilian economists forecast, tourism will be the largest industry in the Northeast, long Brazil's poorest region.

Some Brazilian economists are proposing an alternate model that would assign priority to long-term investments and incentives to national industries, which can bring real stability.