in the eighteenth century, when slavery was eliminated and wage labor was adopted. Important structural transformations began only in the 1930s, when the first steps were taken to change it into a modern, semi-industrialized economy. These transformations were particularly strong between 1950 and 1981, when the growth rates of the economy remained quite high and a diversified manufacturing base was established.
             However, since the early 1980s, the economy has experienced substantial difficulties, including slow growth and stagnation. Nevertheless, the country still has the potential to regain its former dynamism. In the mid-1990s, it had a large and quite diversified economy, but one with considerable structural, as well as short-term problems. Socioeconomic transformations came about rapidly after World War II. In the 1940s, only 31.3 percent of its 41.2 million inhabitants resided in towns and cities. By 1991 its population had reached 146.9 million and 75.5 percent lived in cities, therefore creating two of the world's largest metropolitan centers – Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The rate of population growth decreased for about 3 percent annually in the transition. By mid-1999 it had an estimated population of 166 million (Levine 200).
             The share of its primary sector in the gross national product declined from 28 percent in 1947 to 11 percent in 1992. Despite this reduction, the agricultural sector remains important. Although part of it is primitive and demanding, part is modern and vigorous. Brazil remains one of the world's largest exporters of agricultural products.
             In the same 1947-92 period, the contribution of industry to GNP increased from less than 20 percent to 39 percent. Its GNP per capita in 1999 was of $4,750 per year. The industrial sector produces a wide range of products for the domestic market and for export, including consumer goods, intermediate goods, and capital goods. By the early 1990s...