This is a paper-synthesis, where the author summarizes his theory of development and underdevelopment. Some basic ideas are here presented: the economic theory of development must start with the study of history; underdevelopment is a specific historical and economical phenomenon, that cannot be thought in terms of linear stages of history; this historical phenomenon must be studied in structural terms, relating the historic and the economic aspects; the basic characteristic of underdeve-lopment is the dependency relation, expressed in the center-periphery system; in the study of development the basic concept to start with is the concept of social surplus, its forms of appropriation and utilization. The paper ends with an analysis of the frustrations of a reformist. Protectionism, that was justifiable in a first phase of indus-trialization, was maintained too long in Latin America; in a second phase, an active economic policy for exports was necessary. On the other hand the populist risk was always present, while the real social problems related to a high level of income con-centration were not solved.

Celso Furtado’s works mark both the appearance and the consolidation of the Brazilian economic thought. His main works (like Formação Econômica do Brasil and Desenvolvimento e Subdesenvolvimento) established the reference basis to economic debate that has taken place iii the last thirty years in Brazil. The theory of underdevelopment, elaborated by Celso Furtado, supplied the theoretical basis of development, the doctrine which guided the several Latin American government’s economic policy, and asserted the establishment of the industrialization in Brazil. This article seeks to recompose the steps for constitution of the theory of under-development, explaining the main theoretical questions about that problem and its practical results.

Celso Furtado’s Formação Econômica do Brasil is the most famous book in the Brazilian economic literature and has been so since its very first edition thirty years ago. By that time it immediately had a considerable impact on the Brazilian social sciences. This paper is concerned with the Brazilian intellectual and ideological context of the 1950s, and points out the “Ecla-structuralists” elements in Furtado’s masterpiece. The book’s methodology as well as its analytical aspects have a strong connection to that context.

This article deals with the phases and problems in the crisis of transition from “Fordism” to a new order and a new growth model for the world economy. The two different responses to the productivity fall problems — radical reduction of labor costs or a new social contract — are pointed as determinants of the crisis evolution and, in special, of the development of the american commercial deficit and Treasury debt, and the third world debt. It is shown that the solution by debt payment is not viable, and that macroeco-nomic logic leads to the devaluation as the adequate response. Ethical, political and technical problems of this scheme are analyzed indicating that more probably the debt devaluation will be combined with a readjustment of the export flux of the United States and the Third World against Europe and Japan. Finally, the possibilities of a significant european contribution to this readjustment are discussed. It is argued that, for this to occur, a common social policy for Europe must be adopted before the 1992 unification.

This article examines the obstacles to public sector adjustment arising from the existence of a high level of government debt in the form of short-term or floating interest rate obligations. ln this context, adjustment programmes that rely exclusively on increases in taxation and/or reductions in non-financial government expenditures have limited possibilities of success. Besides making the budget highly vulnerable to increases in external and internal interest rates, the size and composition of Brazilian public debt severely restrict the effectiveness of monetary and exchange-rate policies. The article concludes that under present circumstances a successful stabilization programmer would have to involve fiscal adjustment, a shock treatment against inflation and a restructuring of government debt.

The Bretton Woods Agreement reflected the United States hegemony in the postwar period and the dollar was linked to the commodity that has historically represented international money — gold. Nevertheless, the other developed countries could not allow currency convertibility until 1958 and in 1960 the dollar crisis was already evident. From the “dollar shortage” to the dollar crisis, Bretton Woods was in fact only a mirage. The most significant aspect of the dollar crisis was certainly the development of the euromoney market. At the present time, with the “gold standard”, on one hand, and projects for an artificial currency, on the other, the international monetary system is evolving toward an oligopolar system.

O artigo tem como objetivo geral analisar as formulações desenvolvidas por três vertentes interpretativas da teoria do investimento de Keynes, especificamente no que tange às inter-relações entre variáveis reais e monetário-financeiras. Após destacar o caráter inovador da formulação de Keynes sobre a questão, o autor percorre as abor-dagens dos neokeynesianos (síntese neoclássica), pós-keynesianos e novos keynesianos, tendo em vista focalizar a questão central do artigo, qual seja, avaliar a existência ou não de possíveis relações entre os novos keynesianos e as duas outras vertentes no que diz respeito aos vínculos entre finanças e investimento. Em particular, o autor objetiva avaliar se as formulações dos novos keynesianos representam ou não uma convergência entre as visões neo e pós.