Brazil’s stock market, as measured by the inflation-corrected Bovespa index, has more than quadrupled in value since President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva’s first election victory in October 2002, and is now at almost twice the peak achieved in 2000. In comparison, the inflation-corrected Shanghai Composite only doubled during this period, while the American stock market, as measured by the inflation-corrected Standard and Poor’s 500, increased only 50%.