FinObservatory

Crisis atlas / BRA / 1914–1943

Brazil, 1914–1943

One crisis episode: distinct crisis years merged across gaps of up to two non-crisis years. Types, source agreement, and macro context are drawn from the union of five primary chronologies.

BankingCurrencySovereign debt

Crisis years in this episode

Every distinct (year, type) event inside the 1914–1943 window, with the chronologies flagging it and the count of agreeing sources. Start-year sources (GMD, JST) mark only the first year, so agreement falls in the continuation years.

  1. 1914
    Bankinggmd, rr2 sources
    Currencygmd, rr2 sources
    Sovereign debtgmd, rr2 sources
  2. 1915
    Currencyrr1 source
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  3. 1916
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  4. 1917
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  5. 1918
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  6. 1919
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  7. 1920
    Currencygmd, rr2 sources
  8. 1921
    Currencyrr1 source
  9. 1923
    Bankingrr1 source
    Currencyrr1 source
  10. 1926
    Bankingrr1 source
    Currencygmd, rr2 sources
  11. 1929
    Bankinggmd, rr2 sources
  12. 1930
    Currencygmd, rr2 sources
  13. 1931
    Currencyrr1 source
    Sovereign debtgmd, rr2 sources
  14. 1932
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  15. 1933
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  16. 1934
    Currencygmd, rr2 sources
  17. 1935
    Currencyrr1 source
  18. 1937
    Sovereign debtgmd, rr2 sources
  19. 1938
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  20. 1939
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  21. 1940
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  22. 1941
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  23. 1942
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  24. 1943
    Sovereign debtrr1 source

Source: Global Macro Database 2026_06 (Müller, Xu, Lehbib & Chen 2025) | Jordà-Schularick-Taylor Macrohistory R6 | Laeven & Valencia (2020, 2026) | Reinhart-Rogoff via HBS BFFS | ECB/ESRB Financial Crises Database Methodology

Laeven-Valencia banking-crisis detail

This banking episode is not in the Laeven-Valencia systemic banking crises database, which covers systemic banking crises from 1970. The crisis is dated here by other chronologies (GMD, JST, Reinhart-Rogoff, or ESRB), none of which report a fiscal cost or output loss.

Macro context, 1907–1950

Seven years either side of the episode. Each panel has its own scale; the crisis window is shaded. Only indicators with data for Brazil in this window are shown. Bank credit growth (year over year in total loans) is available for the 18 Jordà-Schularick-Taylor advanced economies.

Inflation (% y/y)
-2002040190719141950
Real GDP growth (% y/y)
-1001020190719141950
Policy rate (%)
0246190719141950
Govt debt (% of GDP)
050100190719141950
Current account (% of GDP)
-5-2.502.5190719141950

Source: Global Macro Database 2026_06 (Müller, Xu, Lehbib & Chen 2025) | Jordà-Schularick-Taylor Macrohistory R6 (credit) Real GDP growth is derived as the year-over-year change in real GDP; current account and government debt are percent of GDP; policy rate is the central-bank rate; bank credit growth is the year-over-year change in JST total loans. Methodology

How each source dates this episode

The chronologies disagree on start years and durations. This table is generated from the event rows, not curated: it lists, per crisis type, which source flags which years inside the window.

Banking
  • Global Macro Database1914, 1929
  • Reinhart-Rogoff1914, 1923, 1926, 1929
Currency
  • Global Macro Database1914, 1920, 1926, 1930, 1934
  • Reinhart-Rogoff1914, 1915, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1926, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1935
Sovereign debt
  • Global Macro Database1914, 1931, 1937
  • Reinhart-Rogoff1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943

Source: Global Macro Database 2026_06 (Müller, Xu, Lehbib & Chen 2025) | Jordà-Schularick-Taylor Macrohistory R6 | Laeven & Valencia (2020, 2026) | Reinhart-Rogoff via HBS BFFS | ECB/ESRB Financial Crises Database Methodology

Documented policy responses

7 interventions from the Metrick-Schmelzing banking-crisis database whose recorded year falls inside this episode window (1914–1943). Each row is one documented government or central-bank action, tagged with the database’s own intervention categories and short code, under the crisis code it assigns. Matching is exact: same country, intervention year inside the window. The database’s global-crisis rows (no country) are never matched here.

BRA-1914Brazil
  1. Aug-1914Capital injectionsAHCI
  2. Aug-1914LendingBBEL
  3. Aug-1914Regulatory forbearance / rulesSBH
  4. Sep-1914Regulatory forbearance / rulesDPM
BRA-1923Brazil
  1. 1923No interventionNO/I
BRA-1926Brazil
  1. 1926Capital injectionsAHCI
BRA-1929Brazil
  1. Oct-1930Regulatory forbearance / rulesSBH

Source: Metrick-Schmelzing Banking-Crisis Interventions Database (Yale Program on Financial Stability) Cite as: Metrick, Andrew, and Paul Schmelzing, "Banking-Crisis Interventions Across Time and Space," working paper, 2024 (dataset consulted 2026-07-10). License: Creative Commons attribution. Methodology

Policy-response case studies (external)

For qualitative accounts of how authorities intervened in systemic crises, see the Yale Program on Financial Stability New Bagehot Project, a library of financial-crisis intervention case studies. It is a separate qualitative resource; no specific case is asserted to match this episode.