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MICHAEL REID

Former Bello Columnist and Senior Editor for Latin America at The Economist

One of the world’s leading analysts and commentators on Latin American
Americas Editor at The Economist (1999-2013)
The Economist’s Brazil correspondent and South America Bureau Chief (1996-1999)
Was awarded the Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 2003 for outstanding reporting on Latin America
Author of “Forgotten Continent: A History of the New Latin America”, “Brazil: The Troubled Rise of a Global Power”, and “Spain: The Trials and Triumphs of a Modern European Country

Michael Reid is one of the world’s leading analysts and commentators on Latin American affairs. He wrote the Bello column in The Economist (2014-2022) and was the magazine’s writer-at-large for Latin America, based in Lima. From 1999 until December 2013 he was The Economist’s Americas Editor responsible for coverage of Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada. He was previously the magazine’s correspondent in Brazil (1996-99) and Mexico and Central America (1990-93) and spent most of the 1980s based in Lima covering the Andean region for the Guardian and the BBC. He has written Special Reports for The Economist on Retailing (1995); Mercosur (1996); Latin American Business (1997); Brazil (1999); Colombia (2001); Argentina (2004); Mexico (2006); Spain (2008); Latin America at 200 (2010); and Cuba (2012).

His books include “Forgotten Continent: A History of the New Latin America” (Second edition, 2017) and “Brazil: The Troubled Rise of a Global Power” (2014), both published by Yale University Press. His new book “Spain: The Trials and Triumphs of a Modern European Country” published by Yale in March 2023.

Michael Reid was a columnist for Poder magazine (Mexico) from 2001 to 2013 and is a regular contributor to Valor Econômico, Brazil’s financial daily newspaper. He studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Balliol College, Oxford University. He was awarded the Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 2003 for outstanding reporting on Latin America by Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He received Brazil’s Ordem Nacional do Cruzeiro do Sul in 2000 for his writing on Brazil and the Mercosur region. He speaks both Spanish and Portuguese fluently.

He speaks frequently on Latin American affairs to business, academic and public-policy audiences. He has testified about the region to the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate and to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the UK House of Commons.

Latin America
Brazil
Mexico
Global Outlook

Brazil: The Troubled Rise of a Global Power

Experts believe that Brazil, the world’s fifth largest country and its seventh largest economy, will be one of the most important global powers by the year 2030. Yet far more attention has been paid to the other rising behemoths Russia, India, and China. Often ignored and underappreciated, Brazil, according to renowned, award-winning journalist Michael Reid, has finally begun to live up to its potential, but faces important challenges before it becomes a nation of substantial global significance.

After decades of military rule, the fourth most populous democracy enjoyed effective reformist leadership that tamed inflation, opened the country up to trade, and addressed poverty and other social issues, enabling Brazil to become more of an essential participant in global affairs. But as it prepares to host the 2014 soccer World Cup and 2016 Olympics, Brazil has been rocked by mass protest. This insightful volume considers the nation’s still abundant problems—an inefficient state, widespread corruption, dysfunctional politics, and violent crime in its cities—alongside its achievements to provide a fully rounded portrait of a vibrant country about to take a commanding position on the world stage.

Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul

Latin America has often been condemned to failure. Neither poor enough to evoke Africa’s moral crusade, nor as explosively booming as India and China, it has largely been overlooked by the West. Yet this vast continent, home to half a billion people, the world’s largest reserves of arable land, and 8.5 percent of global oil, is busily transforming its political and economic landscape.

This book argues that rather than failing the test, Latin America’s efforts to build fairer and more prosperous societies make it one of the world’s most vigorous laboratories for capitalist democracy. In many countries—including Brazil, Chile and Mexico—democratic leaders are laying the foundations for faster economic growth and more inclusive politics, as well as tackling deep-rooted problems of poverty, inequality, and social injustice. They face a new challenge from Hugo Chávez’s oil-fuelled populism, and much is at stake. Failure will increase the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants to the United States and Europe, jeopardize stability in a region rich in oil and other strategic commodities, and threaten some of the world's most majestic natural environments.

Drawing on Michael Reid’s many years of reporting from inside Latin America’s cities, presidential palaces, and shantytowns, the book provides a vivid, immediate, and informed account of a dynamic continent and its struggle to compete in a globalized world.