Economist Deborah Bizarria is Folha’s new columnist

The Pernambuco economist Bizarre Deborah26, starts to write a weekly column, on Fridays, on the website of Sheet, from the 3rd of February.

Graduated from UFPE (Federal University of Pernambuco), she also studied behavioral economics at Warwick University, in the United Kingdom, and is coordinator of Public Policies for Livres, a non-partisan political movement that defends liberal thought.

His interest in behavioral economics —a field that investigates how human behavior interferes with economic decisions— was awakened when the American Richard Thaler, a reference in the subject, received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2017.

“It’s an area that still doesn’t have a major center of reference in Brazil. I took that money I had saved my whole life, the family helped with a little more and I went to live in the UK in 2018, still during college. The course it was very focused on public policies, an area that would be my choice later on”, says the economist, who is also evangelical.

Your columns should make this bridge between behavioral economics and initiatives to improve public policies, with reference to scientific articles and discussions that are being held abroad.

“Brazil still has basic issues to be resolved — and we cannot stop thinking about them. But we need to talk more about welfare economics and issues with an environmental bias. We need to make up for lost time while keeping an eye on what is being done. discussed in the world.”

Bizarria also intends to address other important topics, such as gender inequality. “Being a woman and occupying a relevant space for the discussion of economic issues, this is a subject that, without a doubt, will be present in the column”, she says.

Since 2021 at Livres, she is responsible for consolidating public policies in the movement. Last December, she published an article in Sheet titled “You don’t have to be left-wing to be a feminist”, in which she argues that gender inequality goes beyond a discussion of individual freedoms and has economic implications that are still not properly discussed in public debate.

“Debating and seeking solutions to these problems should not be restricted to the left. On the contrary, as they affect all types of women and harm economic development, the agenda crosses ideological barriers,” he wrote.

Regarding the new perspectives for the Brazilian economy, since the return of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to the Presidency, she considers that economists, in general, have done a good job, pointing out Brazil’s priorities and the reforms that need to be done be made.

“Tax reform is important, as well as trade liberalization and concern with the trajectory of the public debt. Paths are being pointed out, it is up to politics to define priorities”, he assesses.