Capital flows and monetary control under a domestic currency substitution regime: the recent Brazilian experience

The 90s have witnessed a resumption in capital flows to Latin America. due to the conjugation of low interest rates in the US and economic reforms in most LA countries. In Brazil. however. substantial capital flows have becn induced by the extremely high domestic interest rates practiced by the Central Bank as a measure of last reson given the absence of successful stabilization policies. These very high interest rates were needed to prevent capital flight in a context of a surprisingly stable inflation rate above 20% a month. and keep interest bearing govemment securities preferable to foreign assets as money substitutes. We carefully describe how this domestic currency substitution regime (interest bearing govemment securities are substituted for MIas cash holdings) requires the Central Bank to renounce aoy control over monerary aggregates. In this domestic currency substitution regime. hyperinflation is the most likely outcome of an isolated (i.e.. without fiscal adjusanents) attempt by the Brazilian Central Bank to control money.

Tax reform under fiscal stress: a CGE analysis of the Brazilian tax reform

In spite of a general agreement over the distortion imposed by the current Brazilian tax system, attempts to reform it during the last decade have faced several restrictions to its implementation. Two of these restrictions were particular binding: a) fiscal adjustment restriction (public sector debt cannot increase), b) fiscal federalist restriction (revenues from individual states and municipalities cannot decrease). This paper focuses on a specific reform that overcomes in principle the fiscal federalist restriction. Using Auerbach and Kotlikoff (1987) model calibrated for the Brazilian economy, I analyze the short and long run macroeconomic effects of this reform subject to the fiscal adjustment restriction. Finally, I look at the redistributive effects of this reform among generations as a way to infer about public opinion’s reaction to the reform. The reform consists basically of replacing indirect taxes on corporate revenues, which I show to be equivalent to a symmetric tax on labor and capital income, by a new federal VAT. The reform presented positive macroeconomic effects both in the short and long run. Despite a substantial increase in the average VAT rate in the first years after the reform, a majority of cohorts experienced an increase in their lifetime welfare, being potentially in favour of the reform.

Flypaper effect revisited : evidence for tax collection efficiency in Brazilian municipalities

This paper has two purposes. First, to construct efficiency scores in tax collection for Brazilian municipalities in 2004, taking into consideration two outputs: amount of per capita local tax collected -tax revenue- and the size of local informal economy- tax base. This methodology eliminates the price- effect of tax collection. Second, using the rules established on the Brazilian Constitution in 1988 to transfer unconditional funds among municipalities as instrument, to estimate the relationship between intergovernmental transfers and efficiency in tax collection. We conclude that transfers affect negatively the efficiency in tax collection, leading to a reinterpretation of the flypaper effect.

Robustness and stabilization properties of monetary policy rules in Brazil

Based on three versions of a small macroeconomic model for Brazil, this paper presents empirical evidence on the effects of parameter uncertainty on monetary policy rules and on the robustness of optimal and simple rules over different model specifications. By comparing the optimal policy rule under parameter uncertainty with the rule calculated under purely additive uncertainty, we find that parameter uncertainty should make policymakers react less aggressively to the economy's state variables, as suggested by Brainard's "conservatism principIe", although this effect seems to be relatively small. We then informally investigate each rule's robustness by analyzing the performance of policy rules derived from each model under each one of the alternative models. We find that optimal rules derived from each model perform very poorly under alternative models, whereas a simple Taylor rule is relatively robusto We also fmd that even within a specific model, the Taylor rule may perform better than the optimal rule under particularly unfavorable realizations from the policymaker' s loss distribution function.

Public debt management, monetary policy and financial institutions

Despite the large size of the Brazilian debt market, as well the large diversity of its bonds, the picture that emerges is of a market that has not yet completed its transition from the role it performed during the megainflation years, namely that of providing a liquid asset that provided positive real returns. This unfinished transition is currently placing the market under severe stress, as fears of a possible default from the next administration grow larger. This paper analyzes several aspects pertaining to the management of the domestic public debt. The causes for the extremely large and fast growth ofthe domestic public debt during the seven-year period that President Cardoso are discussed in Section 2. Section 3 computes Value at Risk and Cash Flow at Risk measures for the domestic public debt. The rollover risk is introduced in a mean-variance framework in Section 4. Section 5 discusses a few issues pertaining to the overlap between debt management and monetary policy. Finally, Section 6 wraps up with policy discussion and policy recommendations.

Efeito da eleição do candidato da oposição sobre a apresentação e aprovação de projetos do prefeito na Câmara

Este trabalho tem por objetivo analisar o efeito de se eleger um candidato da oposição em eleições municipais sobre a apresentação e aprovação de projetos do prefeito então eleito na câmara de vereadores, no ano subsequente. Tal questão diz respeito à vantagem, para os munícipes, de optar pela alternância de poder em detrimento da reeleição, bem como à relação entre o novo representante do executivo e os vereadores. Dialoga-se, assim, com uma literatura político-eleitoral pródiga na análise dos fatores que favorecem a reeleição, mas que pouco se debruçou sobre as consequências futuras da alternância de poder. Igualmente, contribui-se com um embasamento econométrico para as discussões fomentadas a nível teórico a respeito das relações entre os poderes no município. A metodologia empregada se baseia na técnica de regressões descontínuas ou RDD para tratamento quase-experimental dos dados coletados no TSE e no Censo Legislativo de 2005. A partir da análise dos dados, e com significância moderada, argumenta-se que quando o prefeito eleito é da oposição ele tende a apresentar menos projetos à câmara em seu primeiro ano de mandato, mas recebe acolhida proporcionalmente mais favorável por parte dos vereadores.

O programa nuclear brasileiro: uma história oral

Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação de História Contemporânea do Brasil

Sanitation and health: empirical evidence for Brazilian municipalities

The relationship between sanitation policies (access and quality) and health in Brazilian municipalities was estimated from 2003 to 2010 using a panel data model with corrections for missing data. The results suggest a limited effect of sanitation policy on health. Compared with results from the literature, we found that the worsening quality of water appears to be associated with increased rates of mortality and hospitalization for children up to one month of age. Improvements in sewage sanitation have reduced the mortality and morbidity rates in children aged one to four. Improved access to piped water is associated with decreased hospitalization related to dysentery and acute respiratory infections (ARI) and does not have an effect on child mortality. Finally, epidemiological transition is only supported by weak evidence, including a more intense effect of reduced access to sanitation in municipalities with the worst mortality and morbidity indicators. In most models, this theory has been rejected

As políticas anticíclicas brasileiras da crise financeira de 2008 : uma análise setorial

A crise financeira internacional de 2008 afetou tanto a economia dos Estados Unidos quanto a economia mundial. Assim, discutiu-se as origens da crise do “subprime”, em uma contextualização histórica e entendeu-se a repercussão dessa crise, com foco nas medidas anticíclicas brasileiras adotadas em nível setorial. Através de estudos econométricos que visavam avaliar a eficácia dessas medidas de políticas fiscal, monetária e creditícia, direcionadas aos setores automotivo, de construção civil e de móveis e eletrodomésticos, buscou-se entender a eficácia das medidas anticíclicas tanto como incentivo econômico, quanto na manutenção do nível de emprego, dois dos principais focos das políticas anticíclicas brasileiras. A análise empírica revelou, no lado do incentivo dos setores, que a política monetária expansionista não teve o efeito esperado em nenhum dos três setores testados, enquanto que as políticas creditícia e fiscal, também expansionistas, tiveram efeitos positivos sobre os setores em estudo. Pelo lado da eficácia na manutenção do emprego, as políticas fiscal e monetária foram eficazes para os três setores analisados, o que nos permite concluir que as medidas do governo tiveram alguma forma de eficácia. É importante ressaltar que se assumiu a premissa para as séries de IPI sobre o setor de móveis e eletrodomésticos e a série de desemprego, que não estavam disponíveis de forma específica, constituindo uma limitação ao trabalho.