Pengaruh Liberalisasi Ekonomi terhadap Kesenjangan Sosial di Brazil: Tinjauan Ekonomi Politik Radikal

Deni Mursalin (Universitas Ahmad Dahlan)
Ferdiansah Meliano Resa Sandofa (Universitas Ahmad Dahlan)

Jurnal Tirtayasa Ekonomika (Tirtayasa Economica Journal)
Vol 1, No 1 (2026)

This study examines the impact of economic liberalization on social inequality in Brazil from 2004 to 2023 through the lens of radical political economy, specifically Marxist dependency theory. Using multiple regression analysis with the Gini index as the dependent variable and trade openness and government spending on education as independent variables, this study reveals findings that contradict theoretical expectations. The results show that trade openness (β = -0.563, p < 0.001) and government spending on education (β = -5.862, p < 0.001) significantly reduce inequality, contrary to the predictions of traditional dependency theory. The model explains 79.28% of the variance in inequality (R² = 0.7928). These findings suggest that Brazil's experience during the commodity boom and social policy expansion created conditions in which increased global integration and strategic public investment actually mitigated inequality. This study contributes to dependency theory by demonstrating how domestic policy interventions can mediate the relationship between global economic integration and inequality in peripheral economies.