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Born this date in 1849 in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, Ruy Barbosa de Oliveira was a federal representative, senator, Minister of Finance, writer, jurist and diplomat.  Barbosa's liberal ideas were influential in the drafting of the first republican constitution.  He was a supporter of fiat money, as opposed to a gold standard, in Brazil.  During his term as finance secretary, he implemented far-reaching reforms of Brazil's financial regime, instituting a vigorous expansionist monetary policy. The result was chaos and instability: the so-called fiat experiment resulted in the Bubble of Encilhamento, a dismal politic-economic failure.