The Brazilian capital markets, in special the stock market, apparently had great development in the 90's - mainly when one considers market capitalization, traded volume and new issues. However, several signs of decline appeared at the end of the decade - decline in volume traded and new issues. High interest rates, ADRs and CPMF (tax on financial transactions) are commonly blamed for this reversion. This article presents another diagnosis. It shows that the referred development was illusionary since 1) the number of public firms was declining since the beginning of the decade, and 2) market concentration was increasing (i.e., only a small number of firms took advantage of the expansion). Some elements indicate that the low protection for minority investors is one of the reasons for the atrophy of the Brazilian capital markets.