A return to “caution, serenity, and perseverance” in Brazil?

Over the next few days, when September economic indicators hit the wires, the fact that Brazilian consumer prices reached double-digit inflation for the first time since 2016 is likely to make the headlines. That will be a gift for President Jair Bolsonaro’s many adversaries, who will be given an easy and broadly relatable metric to compare his economic management to the disastrous second term of Dilma Rousseff, the center-left president impeached five years ago.

Average Brazilians have seen their electricity bills skyrocket, up roughly 20 percent this year already. Furthermore, for the first time ever, citizens are paying over BRL 100 (USD 18.89 — almost one-tenth of the minimum wage) for the iconic 13-kilo botijão cooking gas cylinders present in most Brazilian kitchens. 

For families whose salaries are being corroded by the high prices of essential goods, it is of little consolation to blame inflation on Brazil’s driest summer in 91 years, or on the multiple economic shocks that hit the...