SÃO PAULO—Just days before Sunday’s pivotal presidential election, Brazilian candidates are promising to crack down on spiraling violence, improve weak educational and health systems and shore up the country’s crumbling infrastructure. But none of the leading candidates mention Brazil’s biggest problem: There is no money to do any of that.
After years of overspending followed by a deep recession, Brazil’s next president will run a government living on borrowed money to pay salaries and pensions and keep schools and hospitals...