Protests outside the palace, IMF warnings to cut spending, people in suits avoiding the mob, fear of a run on the banks, the spectre of default, a currency fixed to a much stronger economy: Greece, 2011, or Argentina, 2001? "Que se vayan todos!" (They must all go!) was the slogan of the protesters forcing out the Argentine president who locked away their bank savings, triggering default and devaluation.

Insolvency practice is not a regulated profession in Brazil. This position is usually occupied by lawyers, economists or accountants who, sometimes, have a degree of specialisation in this area. A judicial administrator, appointed by the court, is responsible for managing the bankrupt estate (in bankruptcy proceedings) or overseeing the reorganisation process (in restructuring proceedings). The judicial administrator is a preferably a lawyer, an accountant, an economist, a business manager or a specialised company.

Insolvency legislation is a federal law and is therefore applied throughout the country. The Bankruptcy Act (‘Ley de Concursos y quiebras’, in Spanish) is part of the Commercial Code, which is also a federal law. Only Certified Public Accountants (CPAs or ‘Contadores Públicos Nacionales’, in Spanish) are appointed as Trustees in Bankruptcy by the court of original jurisdiction, out of a list of CPAs registered with the Appellate Court or the Supreme Court of each Federal State.

It has been almost 50 years since Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz recorded the bossa-nova hit “The Girl from Ipanema”. Much has changed in Brazil since they sang of the tanned Rio de Janeiro beauty: “When she walks, she’s like a samba.” The song has become elevator music and the young girl from Rio’s most famous beach district is now a grandmother. But not all the loveliness has faded. In some ways, those wistful days have returned.

Public debts in developed world economies have surged in recent years to levels not recorded since the end of World War II, surpassing the heights reached during the First World War and the Great Depression.

Insolvency legislation is a federal law and is therefore applied throughout the country. The Bankruptcy Act (‘Ley de Concursos y quiebras’, in Spanish) is part of the Commercial Code, which is also a federal law.

Inflation fears—fueled by spiraling food, oil and raw material prices—are mounting around the globe, prompting the head of the European Central Bank to signal that it could raise interest rates in the future even though some countries have been weakened by the Continent's debt crisis. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal ahead of this week's annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jean-Claude Trichet warned that inflation pressures in the euro zone must be watched closely, and urged central bankers everywhere to ensure that higher energy and food pri

Latin America has endured more financial crises than any other part of the world in the past six decades. It's learned lessons important now for the euro zone, which is coping badly with financial wildfire, The Wall Street Journal reported in an analysis. Although the two regions have very different levels of wealth, there are important similarities. Financial woes in both regions skip from country to country via trade, finance and group psychology.