By Ediane Tiago*

In this week, Brazilian Women in Economics’s podcast episode presents a conversation between Laura Karpuska, Paula Pereda, and the researcher Laura Carvalho, Ph.D. in Economics from New School for Social Research and professor at FEA-USP. Laura has just launched the book “Short-circuit: the virus and the return of the State”, (available only in Brazilian Portuguese). Her book shows five roles of the State that the pandemic helped to reveal.

Laura explained how a crisis, which has started from the public health sphere, impacted economic agents and highlighted the results of the actions. “In the maintenance of income, we did well with emergency aid. The PNAD Covid19 shows that we have managed to neutralize the loss of income for the poorest families”, commented the professor. However, the strategies for employee maintenance and credit assignment were not effective.

In the conversation of this episode, the Brazilian Women in Economics also approached the fundamentals of Economics and its technical jargon. Laura also gave us a great class about the minimum income issue in Brazil and the possible effects it could cause in society.

*Ediane Tiago is a journalist specialized in science, technology, and innovation. She is also a Brazilian Women in Economics’s collaborator.