In the 1960s, both countries had similar income levels and similar rates of growth. South Korea’s larger middle class enabled it to shift away from export-driven growth towards domestic consumption, a transition that did not occur in Brazil. They do not constitute a developmental “middle class” and their employment, education and consumption behaviours do not coincide with perceptions of a middle class that drives domestic consumption and growth.8 In Latin America, for example, the middle sectors are still economically vulnerable: average schooling is only 8.3 years and few of its members have university degrees.