The expanding middle

摘要

Jammed onto a spit of land that juts into the azure Atlantic near the centre of Recife, in Brazil's north-east, Brasilia Teimosa was until a couple of decades ago a favela of wooden fishermen's huts. Now its streets are lined with brick houses, some of three stories and clad in decorative tiles but others jerry-built. It has seafood restaurants, shops and a couple of bank branches, but also piles of uncollected rubbish. Many marketing types and economists would hail its residents as members of Brazil's burgeoning "new middle class", who have become avid consumers.