Do Brazilian courts contribute to the implementation of the right to housing?

The objective of this paper is to try to understand the Brazilian’s Courts role in the implementation of the Right to Housing. In order to do that, I analyzed three lawsuits (Favela Olga Benario, Favela Fiat/Vila Esperança and Pinheirinho I) in which the Right to Housing collide with the Right to Private Property. I claim that in spite of the adoption of the Social Function of the Ownership Principle and the formal inclusion of the Right to Housing among social rights protected by the Constitution, Brazilians Courts adopt a very conservative conception of the Right to Private Property and because of that, they tend not to enforce the Right to Housing.

Palhaços: poética e política nas ruas: direito à cultura e à cidade

O presente trabalho analisou ações culturais em logradouros públicos do município do Rio de Janeiro, atualmente chamadas de Arte Pública, no contexto posterior a promulgação em junho de 2012 da Lei do Artista de Rua, que garante o uso livre do espaço urbano para as apresentações artísticas destes grupos e artistas e reconhece oficialmente estas manifestações. A partir deste quadro a pesquisa se propõe a refletir sobre as possíveis contradições entre a mediação cultural que acreditamos ser inerente a este segmento e a institucionalização decorrente desta lei. O estudo da mediação visou ainda pensar em outras formas de participação social no planejamento das políticas culturais. A investigação foi feita prioritariamente com palhaços profissionais que atuem nas ruas, praças, comunidades e outras áreas públicas do município.

Notes on cyclical tendency to the overvaluation of the real

This note addresses the question “To what extent financial regulation in Brazil was effective in neutralizing the tendency to the overvaluation of the exchange rate in Brazil since the 1994 Real Plan?” Aiming at answering this question, this note is organized as follows: after this short introduction, we briefly describe the Brazilian exchange rate behavior after the Real Plan, emphasizing its key role in keeping prices stable. In section 3, the recent measures adopted by the Brazilian Central Bank (BCB) aiming at avoiding the overvaluation of real will be summarized. In section 4, we argue in favor of a new policy mix that could avoid overvaluation of the currency. Finally, some issues will be raised in order to effectively neutralize the overvaluation of real.