Antônio Delfim Netto

Antônio Delfim Netto (; 1 May 1928 – 12 August 2024) was a Brazilian economist, academic, and politician who served as a congressman and as Minister of Finance, Minister of Agriculture, and Minister of Planning.

Under Netto's tenure as Minister of Finance, Brazil experienced a period of unprecedented economic growth – the so-called Economic Miracle –, which was driven by a heterodox, developmentalist planning model reliant on low wages, a rapidly rising export rate, and massive inflows of foreign capital.

Netto added another layer of meaning to the "cake theory". According to him, the cake should rise before it could be shared; hence, economic growth would be an appropriate way to address the rampant inequality Brazil faced. Delfim Netto died in São Paulo on 12 August 2024, at the age of 96.

Biography Born in São Paulo to a middle-class family of Italian immigrants, Netto attended Liceu Siqueira Campos before enrolling in the School of Economics, Business and Accounting of the University of São Paulo, where he was part of the school's third intake and headed the Academic Center Visconde de Cairu (pt), graduating in 1951. The next year, he was hired as assistant professor. He earned a doctorate with a thesis on the economy of coffee, becoming a full-time professor at the University of São Paulo in 1958.

Netto worked in Carvalho Pinto's government of São Paulo and later became Minister of Finance under the state government of Laudo Natel. In 1967, president Artur da Costa e Silva invited him to work at the Ministry of Finance. In December 1968, amid the escalation of the political climate, Netto, alongside other high-profile bureaucrats, signed the Institutional Act Number.Five, a decree penned by the jurist Luís da Gama e Silva that warranted the military dictatorship extraordinary powers, culminating in a period of political repression.

Electoral history (#21)1990State Elections of São PauloPDSFederal DeputyUnion for São Paulo (PDS, PTB, PDC, PRN)142,1410.83 (#4)1994State Elections of São PauloPPRFederal DeputyForça São Paulo (PP, PPR)94,5730.51 (#15)1998State Elections of São PauloPPBFederal DeputyViva São Paulo (PPB, PFL, PL, PSL, PST, PRN)177,9121.14 (#10)2002State Elections of São PauloPPBFederal DeputyResolve São Paulo (PPB, PL, PSDC, PTN)131,3990.67 (#35)2006State Elections of São PauloPMDBFederal DeputyPMDB - PP38,0850.18 (#122)

Works

Crônica do Debate Interditado, 1998, Topbooks