Antitrust under the popular economy: the birth of the antitrust law in Brazil.

This article examines the origins and context of Brazil's first antitrust law, Decree 869 of 1938, highlighting its role in legally defining and regulating economic power through the constitutional concept of the "popular economy." Emerging during the Estado Novo regime (1937–1945), the legislation aimed not only to curb abuses by foreign and domestic monopolies embedded in Brazil's internal market but also to direct economic power in alignment with national industrialization goals. The study situates the law within broader constitutional and administrative doctrines that envisioned a strong yet subsidiary State role in the economy, influenced by fascist and corporatist models. It also identifies a 1938 crisis in the insurance policy market as a key catalyst for the law's enactment. Overall, the article argues that Brazil's early antitrust framework was less a reaction to industrialization and more a strategic state project to reorganize the national economy and reduce foreign dependence while balancing private economic interests with social welfare.