The Socio-Economic Thought of Valentim Fernandes Bouças: Political-Business Organization, 1930-1940

Abstract

This paper will examine the political and business activities of the entrepreneur Valentim Fernandes Bouças. The first part of the article presents Bouças´ path during the First Republic and the first decade of the Vargas government. This businessman was linked to American economic groups such as the International Business Machine Corporation, Goodyear Company, Cia Services Hollerith, Panair Brazil and Adressograph-Multigraph. In addition to the acting as a representative of foreign capital, Bouças helped to form the complex superstructure of the capitalist state in Brazil. He became quite influential and, during the Vargas government, participated in important technical and advisory bodies such as the Commission for Financial and Economic Studies of States and Municipalities (CEFEM), the Technical Board of Finance and Economics (CTEF) the Federal Foreign Trade Council (CFCE) and the Economic Planning Commission.
In civil society, Valentim Bouças was connected to the Commercial Association of Rio de Janeiro - of which he was Vice-President in 1943 and 1944. He was also associated with the Institute for Rational Labor Organization, along with entrepreneurs Euvaldo Lodi, Roberto Simonsen, and Horacio Lafer, among others. The available evidence suggests it not unlikely that, due to his knowledge of economics and his contacts with American companies, Valentim Bouças accumulated social and political capital that allowed him significant participation in economic and financial matters at the highest levels. Knowledge of international financial circuits and procedures made him an intermediary between the government and external creditors. We propose to evaluate the relationship between the social thought, political organization, and business associations of this entrepreneur who was both an intellectual and a representative of foreign corporations..