Marcio Pochmann

Marcio Pochmann
File:2024 - Audiência com Marcio Pochmann, Presidente do IBGE (cropped).jpg Pochmann in February 2024
President of the IBGE
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 August 2023
President	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Minister	Simone Tebet
Preceded by	Cimar Azeredo Pereira
President of IPEA
In office 14 August 2007 – 5 June 2012
President	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Dilma Rousseff
Minister	Roberto Mangabeira Unger Samuel Pinheiro Guimarães Moreira Franco
Preceded by	Luiz Henrique Proença Soares
Succeeded by	Marcelo Neri
Secretary of Development, Labor and Solidarity for the City of São Paulo
In office 2001–2004
Appointed by	Marta Suplicy
Personal details
Born	(1962-04-19) April 19, 1962 Venâncio Aires, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Party	PT
Academic work
Main interests	Social exclusion Geography of finance
Alma mater	UFRGS UNICAMP
Profession	Economist

Marcio Pochmann (born April 19, 1962) is a Brazilian economist, academic, and politician who has served as President of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), a research institute of the Ministry of Planning and Budget, since August 2023.

Pochmann, a former professor at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), previously served as President of the Institute of Applied Economic Research from 2007 to 2012, during the first presidency of Lula da Silva and the presidency of Dilma Rousseff. He also served as the Secretary of Development, Labor, and Solidarity for the City of São Paulo during the mayorship of Marta Suplicy.

A member of the Workers' Party, Pochmann unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of Campinas in 2012 and 2016, both times losing to Jonas Donizette. Pochmann also ran for Federal Deputy for São Paulo in 2018 but was not elected.

Life and career

Pochmann was born in Venâncio Aires, Rio Grande do Sul, in 1962,  to Clyde Pochmann and Lilian Pochmann.  He is married to Daisy, with whom he has two children.

Education

In 1984, he graduated in economics from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS).  From 1985 to 1988, he studied postgraduate studies in political science at the Central University of the Federal District, in Brasília, Federal District.

In 1993, Pochmann completed a doctorate in Economic Sciences at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp),  defending the dissertation entitled Labor and Income Guarantee Policies in Changing Capitalism.

Public career

Pochmann began his public career in 2001.

City of São Paulo

In 2001, Pochmann was appointed municipal secretary of Development, Labor and Solidarity for the city of São Paulo by mayor Marta Suplicy In this role, he was responsible for managing social inclusion and job creation programs.

Institute for Applied Economic Research

File:Marcio Pochmann IPEA.JPG

Pochmann as president of IPEA in 2010.

In 2007, Pochmann assumed the presidency of the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), after receiving an invitation from Minister Mangabeira Unger.  At the time, Ipea had 500 workers. Pochmann's selection for the position was considered a strengthening of the developmental wing of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva 's government.

Pochmann's management at the institute was heavily questioned due to controversies related to rigging and allegations of political persecution. He was accused of using a research body for political purposes and framing studies to pursue heterodox economics.

Pochmann resigned the position to run for Mayor of Campinas in 2012.

Perseu Abramo Foundation

File:Logo FPA.jpg

The logo of the Perseu Abramo Foundation, which Pochmann chaired from 2012 to 2020.

In 2012, the National Directory of the Workers' Party appointed Pochmann as president of the Perseu Abramo Foundation, the party's think tank. He served in this position while concurrently running for Mayor of Campinas in 2016 and Federal Deputy in 2018.

Pochmann held the role until 2020 when he was replaced by former senator Aloizio Mercadante.

Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics

In July 2023, he was appointed to preside over the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Controversy over appointment

According to some journalists, the choice of Pochmann caused discomfort among the team at the Ministry of Planning and Budget, who had preferred a technocratic rather than political appointment like that of Luciana Servo at IPEA.

Controversies emerged between Tebet and Lula over the nomination, as Tebet was not consulted. Tebet said in a statement that "Minister Pimenta, not knowing that in the meeting we had with the president we had not mentioned the name, announced it preliminarily. And it has already been placed. The name will be made official at the right time, after the conversation we will have next week with President Lula . We will accept any name that comes."

The Buenos Aires Times reported that Pochmann's leftist economic views are considered "too extreme even by members of Lula's economic team, who worry about damage to IBGE's credibility...after Pochmann's years at IPEA, [which] were controversial and caused several economists who did not agree with him to leave the organisation."

Tenure

In August 2023, with a ceremony at the ministry's headquarters in Brasília, he assumed the presidency of IBGE.

In November, Pochmann said in a lecture to employees that he intended to change the research dissemination model, not going through press conferences by the mainstream media.

Elections

Year	Election	Party		Office	Coalition	Partner	Party		Votes	%	Result	Ref.
2012	Campinas Mayoral Election		PT	Mayor of Campinas	Campinas with the Force of Brazil PT, PSD, PTC, and PRP	Adriana Flosi		PSD	147,130	28.56%	Second Round
									231,420	42.31%	Lost
2016	Campinas Mayoral Election				None	Vera Lucia		PT	74,334	15.04%	Lost
2018	São Paulo State Elections			Federal Deputy	None				53,261	0.25%	Lost

Publications

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Book	Ref.
2002	Tortoise Prize	Economy, Administration, Business and Law	A Década dos Mitos
2007		Non-Fiction	Latinoamericana
2008		Education and Health	Crescimento Econômico e Distribuição de Renda

Works

Having published over 50 books, Boitempo Editorial noted these works:

• O emprego na globalização (2001)
• O emprego no desenvolvimento da nação (2008)
• Margem Esquerda n°15 (2010)
• Nova classe média? O trabalho na base da pirâmide social brasileira (2012)
• Margem Esquerda 23: Dossiê: Brasil, que desenvolvimento? (2014)
• O mito da grande classe média (2014)
• Margem Esquerda 29 (2017)