Reelection incentives and political budget cycle: evidence from Brazil

This article tests the presence of political budget cycle (PBC) in municipal elections in Brazil and checks whether mayors who adopt such policy have greater probability of reelection. Based on fiscal and electoral data of 5,406 Brazilian municipalities and applying the difference-in-differences econometric method as well as logistic regressions, the results provide some evidence of PBC in Brazil, although its magnitude and consistency varies depending on the years used as electoral and non-electoral years. On average, reelectable mayors spend close to 3% more in election years than nonreelectables. Moreover, reelectables who do run for reelection present a variation in spending which is close to 5% superior to that of non-reelectables and non-runners. Additionally, the results suggest that mayors who increase public spending during electoral periods have greater chances of being reelected, as long as such spending is done within deficit limits acceptable by voters.

Eixos mobilizadores em química

Over the last five years there have been significant changes in higher education in Brazil as well as in research funding. As a contribution to the development of Science and Technology, and aiming to portray Chemistry today in Brazil, in the context of last year´s elections for President, State Governors, National Congress and Legislative Chamber, the Directors and Consulting Council of the Brazilian Chemical Society, SBQ, initiated in 2002 a series of activities to produce a document entitled Mobilizing Axes in Chemistry. This discusses undergraduate and graduate teaching in Chemistry, a new model for research funding, and the overall state of the art, and future perspectives. Six mobilizing axes have been identified and discussed to date: 1. Training of highly qualified personnel; 2. Decentralization, and discouragement of institutional in-breeding; 3. Stimulation of entrepreneurship and interdisciplinarity; 4. A guaranteed budget for Science and Technology; 5. Proactive interaction of academics with economic activity; and 6. Removal of institutional bottle-necks of all sorts. The Brazilian Chemical Society hopes that the new administration will in the near future begin the task of improving the national education system and increase funding for Science and Technology.

O que é que o reeleito tem? O retorno: o esboço de uma teoria da reeleição no Brasil

This article compares the determinants of electoral success in two consecutive Brazilian legislative elections, 1998 and 2002. There is a clear difference between both periods that renders the comparison especially interesting. In 1998 the incumbent president was running for reelection whereas in 2002 it was an open seat contest. We hypothesize that in 1998 the proximity of the Federal Deputy with the president and the allocation of federal monies controlled by the Executive Branch played a more significant role in affecting reelection success than in 2002. Hence, if the President is himself running for reelection is an important intervening contextual variable in understanding reelection success of Federal Deputies.

Discutindo o papel do Programa Bolsa Família na decisão das eleições presidenciais brasileiras de 2006

This paper investigates the relationship between the impact of Bolsa Família Program in the Brazilian population and the result of the presidential elections of 2006. The database involves municipal information provided by MDS, IBGE and TSE. To control the experiment, the eventual influences of other variables in the determination of this relationship had been studied. All those variables come from specific characteristics of the cities, such as: city with predominant urban or not urban population; size of the city population; among others. The results state that the Bolsa Família was, in fact, a very important factor in the determination of the votes in Lula. It was, in itself, responsible by 45% of the total votes in Lula.

Estado e embates socioterritoriais na Bolívia do século XXI

Recent results of presidential elections in Latin America suggest a turn to the left in various countries. In Bolivia, such a movement includes the victory of an Aymara Indian who is also a leader of coca farmers. The article proposes an interpretation of this event, describes and discusses the main actions of the new government, stressing the reactions they provoked, and explores the class, ethnic and territorial dimensions of the resulting conflicts. The regional aspects of the fights, seen in connection with the country's historical regionalism, are highlighted and their basic conditions are investigated.

Democracia e eficiência: a difícil relação entre política e economia no debate contemporâneo

Democracy and efficiency: hard relations between politics and economy. Many economists see politics as an irrational activity. They also think state action usually generates market inefficiencies and democratic institutions, such as elections, often work as obstacles to sound economic measures. Showing that vision has been embedded into the main currents of economic thought since the last century, we also argue those ideas are exported to great part of contemporary political science, including the area of public policies. Examining the literature, we show that rational choice political scientists, as the economists, claim governability and effective decisions will be guaranteed mainly through concentrated arenas or through insulated arrangements able to protect policy makers from political interference. In other words, governability depends on the reduction of the political arenas. On the contrary, we reject this technocratic solution of splitting politics from economy. With the support of classical pluralist thinkers, we stand another conception, arguing politics is the privileged social space for building interests and values in an institutionalized way. The difficulties to surpass current international crises since 2008 reveal this is a crucial problem: reducing politics would prevent societies from improving institutional solutions which are the only ones able to give space to emerging conflicts and, then, reach eventual consensus around them.