The project “How a Nation is Born: Reconstructing Four Centuries of Brazilian Economic Growth” (REGROWTH) began in 2022 with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship grant from the European Comission for two years at ICS, University of Lisbon. The project is currently ongoing at the Center for Research in Economics and Comparative Development at the Lusíada University of Lisbon with a grant from the Haddad Foundation.

The objective of the project is to build, for the fist time, prices, wages, real wages, and GDP per capita series for Brazil covering the period from first settlement in the 16th century to the year of the first income census in 1920. Initially, we will focus on the main cities of the colonial period, such as Salvador da Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Olinda, São Paulo, Porto Alegre and Rio Grande, and Ouro Preto and São João del Rei.

In this page, we will make available the data files (as soon as the papers are published) and other useful information built by the project.

Media coverage of the project in Folha de São Paulo.

Prices, Wages, and GDP per capita Data Files

Prices, wages, and real wages for Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, and Minas Gerais (1572–1920) coming soon.

GDP per capita for Brazil (1570–1920) coming soon.

Publications

How a nation was born: Brazilian economic growth, 1574–1920. (with Nuno Palma). Submitted. [latest version: March 2026] [CEPR] [Lewis Lab]

African Slavery and the Reckoning of Brazil. (with Nuno Palma). Submitted. [latest version: October 2025] [CEPR] [Lewis Lab]

Wage Inequality in Brazil, 1574–1920.(with Nuno Palma). [work in progress]

Research Team

Guilherme Lambais (Lusíada University of Lisbon)

Nuno Palma (University of Manchester)

RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

Pedro Lopes

João Fialho

Urano Andrade

Vinicius Alves

Camila Amaral

Hélder Carvalhal

Eduardo Cavalcante

Wildson Félix

Luísa Cristina Fernandes

André Lanza

Gustavo Acioli Lopes

Juliane Monteiro

Maria Ferraz Santos