The Graduate Program in Economic Development of Institute of Economics has accumulated extensive experience in teaching and research on issues related to the Economic Development process and its historical, social, economic, political and environmental context. Throughout its history, the Institute of Economics has built a particular interpretation of Brazilian historical development, centered on the problems of underdevelopment and national and international economic transformations. This original matrix allowed a greater dialogue with other areas of knowledge, and consequently, the permanent search for interdisciplinarity. Since 1998, the master's degrees have been created in Economic History, Social Economy and Labor and Economic Development, Space and Environment. In 1999, the Doctorate in Applied Economics was created. In 2007, this group, seeking a greater dialogue between the areas, composed the Graduate Program in Economic Development (PDE), which is the form under which it is currently organized. The program has four areas of concentration: Social and Labor Economics, Economic History, Regional and Urban Economics and Agricultural and Environmental Economics, and is dedicated to the interpretation and explanation of economic development problems in an interdisciplinary way.