Brazilian Beach Economy

In the intense global competition for 21^st Century leadership in the New Beach Economy, Rio de Janeiro is clearly world class.

The city is blessed with abundant comparative advantages – miles of gorgeous white sand beaches, alluring warm ocean waters, exquisite restaurants, pulsating nightclubs -- all surrounded by a towering, lush mountain backdrop. Few countries in the world will ever compete at this level.

Moreover, Rio possesses cultural advantages not known in other areas of the world. While Brazil has the largest population of Catholics on the planet – seen by many neo-beach economists as a drag on growth  -- much was apparently lost in the Latin-to-Portuguese translation. Thus the Cariocas, as Rio’s locals are known, experience greater fluidity in their beach economy when compared to other cultures. 

Thomas Friedman was first to bring America’s attention to this crisis in beach economic competition with his book Brazilians Are Not Flat. Friedman wryly noted that US college students cannot stay competitive with the Cariocas simply doing more of what has worked for Americans in the past -- wild frat parties, binge drinking and rowdy spring break revelry.

Noted social commentator Richard Florida added to the debate with his book – Flight of the Bodacious Class -- observing that Rio had become a magnet for exactly the young people other countries cannot afford to lose – the beautiful, bronze and buff  – those very citizens capable of winning in the 24/7/365 hard partying of the 21^st century.

In Beachonomics, rogue economist Steven Levitt plumbed vast databases of seemingly unrelated information to tease out unexpected insights to Rio’s extraordinary achievement. In his chapter, “Why The Boom, Boom?”, Levitt observed the inverse correlation between textile use in Rio and population growth. 

Now, things have really snowballed: Bill Gates announced he was no longer going to invest in the US beach economy; Oprah hinted she was going to build a beach school in Brazil; the Lilly Endowment hired Battelle to do a study, and President Bush promised to use the rump end of his presidency to push Congress for a “No Behind Left Behind” beach economic development program.

On this trip I decided to see Rio for myself, providing an unblinking photographic record of whatever I saw. The accompanying album confirms the pundits’ worst fears and illustrates the sad sight of an American attempting to beat the Brazilians on their home beach.

Comments

[Suresh]

When you return, you should audition for the job of head-writer for 'Saturday Night live' and 'The Daily Show'. Once you are done investing in technology, let us go start a comedy show with you writing!...

I laughed to tears reading your post!....

[michael]

Bob, I want to see Ipanema Beach with my OWN eyes!

[Chris Baggott]

And I want the NAME of our proud american represenitive!