Brazil’s Social Function Trap: When Property Becomes Conditional, Markets Become Political – Analysis

By Antonio Vladika

Brazil is often described as a constitutional democracy with a market economy: You can buy a home, start a business, sign contracts, and sue in court. Yet many Brazilians live with a quieter reality: ownership feels fragile. Property exists, but it comes with an asterisk. The rules say you have a right, then add conditions that let politics rewrite that right whenever it becomes inconvenient.

From an Austrian perspective, this is not a “legal technicality.”...