The contagion effect of public debt on monetary policy: the Brazilian experience

This paper attempts to explain why the Brazilian inter-bank interest rate is so high compared with rates practiced by other emerging economies. The interplay between the markets for bank reserves and government securities feeds into the inter-bank rate the risk premium of the Brazilian public debt.

Renegociação da dívida pública interna em condições de sobreendividamento

Renegotiation of the public debt in conditions of excessive debt. This paper studies the debt overhang models and maturity management models, and analyses both theoretically and historically the debt renegotiations which the final outcome is a lower public debt burden. From the theoretical view the renegotiation plans can be Pareto improving, both creditors and debtors can be better-off, and the value of the new debt will price the new reputation and debtors' willingness to pay. From the historical point of view, funded debts were the instrument that debtors used to improve reputation.

A gerência recente do endividamento público brasileiro

The recente Brazilian public management. We use two frameworks to analyze the recent Brazilian public debt management. The first one encompasses the Brazilian optimal public debt management analysis through the examination of the correlations among the main variables to which the public debt is indexed. The second seeks to address the consequences of recent Brazilian economic policies, such as international reserves accumulation through sterilized interventions by the Central Bank and excessive capitalization of federal financial institutions. Those policies have important, albeit often ignored, fiscal impacts, which became important to determine the current size, maturity and composition of the public debt stock.

Electronic government policies in Brazil: context, ICT management and outcomes

The State Reform processes combined with the emergence and use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) originated electronic government policies and initiatives in Brazil. This paper dwells on Brazilian e-government by investigating the institutional design it assumed in the state's public sphere, and how it contributed to outcomes related to e-gov possibilities. The analyses were carried out under an interpretativist perspective by making use of Institutional Theory. From the analyses of interviews with relevant actors in the public sphere, such as state secretaries and presidents of public ICT companies, conclusions point towards low institutionalization of e-gov policies. The institutional design of Brazilian e-gov limits the use of ICT to provide integrated public services, to amplify participation and transparency, and to improve public policies management.

Independência do banco central e equilíbrio fiscal: algumas observações para o caso brasileiro

The objective of this paper is to analyze the main theoretical arguments for the analysis of the conduction of monetary policy on the fiscal side. Besides this, an analysis is made of the possible effects on the fiscal balance from the conduction of the monetary policy in the search for price stability after the Real Plan and due to an increase in the central bank independence (CBI) in the Brazilian case. The findings denote that the strategy for the conduction of the adopted monetary policy and the increase in the degree of CBI did not contribute to an imrovement in the fiscal balance.

Para superar el estancamiento económico en México: "nudos críticos" de un proyecto nacional de desarrollo

This article is devoted to analyze changes in economic policy to be adopted by Mexico if a national development project were implemented. Starting from an evaluation of the main economic and political outcomes of Vicente’s Fox administration, the author proposes an alternative development strategy which permits Mexico to overcome economic stagnation. That strategy would be based in recovering the internal market as the dynamical focus of the economy with the purpose of satisfying basic needs of people. To be successful this strategy should to confront the "critical knots" of the Neo-liberal model: to reverse the uneven distribution of income; abandoning the fixing of restrictive monetary, fiscal and exchange rate policies; and mobilizing economic surplus by means of a profound revision of debt service schemes. It concludes that to implement a national development project it is required a political and economic strategy to dismantle neoliberalism, which is an antinational structure of power.

Matemática agradável

This paper suggests a reconsideration of the principle that public deficits should be financed by public debt. Two main reasons are offered. First, it is admitted that public debt is an economic variable whose time behaviour is better described by a first difference equation instead of an accounting identity. The convergence condition thus obtained requires either a nominal negative interest rate or that government bonds are used to raise tax income, hypotheses not theoretically granted. As a consequence, if primary surplus is not sufficient to match interests' payment, it will be observed an explosive trend in the public debt, the due interests and the money issuing. Therefore, it lacks support to the idea that public debt prevents inflation. Second, it is shown that financing public deficit through money issuing leads to a stable equilibrium money stock. The general conclusion is that, in order to simultaneously promote economic growth and inflation control, money issuing is preferable to public debt.

Endividamento público, crescimento, moeda e inflação: comentário a "Matemática agradável", de Gerson Lima

The paper aims at analyzing the article by Gerson Lima on the manner by which fiscal deficit should be covered. It presents a more general dynamic model, where the principle of effective demand is explicitly used. By doing that, it is possible to treat as endogenous variables the national income and the government entries, what brings the result that the public debt must not follow an explosive path unless the very restrictive conditions of Lima's paper prevail. It also evaluates Lima's implicit inflation theory, and argues against his approximation to Friedman's framework.

Endividamento público, crescimento, moeda e inflação: comentário a "matemática agradável", de Gerson Lima - a réplica

This paper aims at replying critical commentaries made by Leite, F. P., Aggio, G. O. e Angeli, E. (this Review, 2009) on two Author's theses. The first one states that, if public deficit is to be financed, then either interest rate applied is negative or government invests as if it where a profit-making business enterprise. Otherwise, public debt will mathematically follow an explosive trend. The second one says that if there is no debt and public deficit is paid with money issuing, then the monetary stock will tend to an equilibrium level.

Política fiscal anticíclica, crise financeira internacional e crescimento econômico no Brasil

This study analyzes the long run equilibrium relationship and causality between economic growth and public expenditure in Brazil covering the period 1980-2008. The empirical results of the Granger causality test in a multivariate framework have shown up the importance of public investments not only to face the adverse effects of the international financial crisis, but also in stimulating the economic growth. Also, the results indicate the need of controlling the growing path of other current expenditure, social security and public debt.

Brazil: an economy caught in a financial trap (1993-2003)

In the early 1990s, Brazil entered a financialized economic dynamic in which short-term financial valorization generated by the issuing of guaranteed public debt overshadowed the entire economy. This article analyzes Brazilian economic processes between 1993 and 2003, in particular the bi-directional relationship with external vulnerability, erratic international financing behavior and how State actions to obtain and maintain these resources fostered financialization. As a result, the entire economy became enmeshed in a self-perpetuating trap in which financial activity was predominant over economic activity.

The Brazilian deindustrialization: financialization is not guilty

The financialization of the Brazilian economy is often criticized as being responsible of the slowdown of capital accumulation in this country. Indeed, very high interest rates are maintained in order to finance the public debt, and this fosters capitalists to get more Treasury bonds rather than to invest in the productive area. Nevertheless, the evolution of the profit rate in this area also explains the particular relation existing between capitalists, finance and productive investment, as Marx showed it more than a century ago.

The rights approach to local public management: experiences from Brazil

The Fundação Getulio Vargas, São Paulo, Public Management and Citizenship Program was set up in 1996 with Ford Foundation support to identify and disseminate Brazilian subnational government initiatives in service provision that have a direct effect on citizenship. Already, the program has 2,500 different experiences in its data bank, the results of four annual cycles. The article draws some initial conclusions about the possibilities of a rights-based approach to public management and about the engagement of other agencies and civil society organizations.

Key factors in working capital management in the Brazilian market

Many studies have been conducted in corporate finance regarding long-term investment and financing decisions. However, short-term asset investments play a significant role in the balance sheet of companies. Moreover, financial managers dedicate significant amounts of time and effort to the subject of working capital management, balancing current assets and liabilities. This paper provides insights regarding the key factors of working capital management by exploring the internal variables of a number of companies. This study used data from 2,976 Brazilian public companies from 2001 to 2008, and found that debt level, size and growth rate can affect the working capital management of companies.

Transparency of the municipal public management: a study from the homepages of the large Brazilian municipalities

This study attempts to check the transparency level of information in public administration published in the homepages of 96 municipalities included among the 100 most populous in Brazil and what characteristics and socioeconomic indicators of the municipalities can contribute to explain the level of transparency observed. The level of transparency in public administration was established from a research model called Transparency Index Municipal Public Management (ITGP-M) constructed based on international codes of good governance and transparency, the Brazilian legislation and the experiences of previous studies of similar nature conducted in Brazil and abroad. The empirical evidence point to low levels of transparency, incompatible with the level of socioeconomic development of municipalities. Moreover, we can conclude that, overall, there is an association between the socioeconomic conditions of the municipalities and the levels of transparency in the disclosure of information about public administration observed in sites of large municipalities as in this study.