Vol. 34 No. 4 (2014): Oct-Dec / 2014


Vol. 34 No. 4 (2014)

Oct-Dec / 2014
Published October 1, 2014

Article


Ignácio Rangel, 100 years
Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-3157-2014-2560

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Notes on the thought of Ignácio Rangel on the centenary of his birth
Marcio Henrique Monteiro de Castro, Ricardo Bielschowsky, Cesar Benjamin
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-3157-2014-2515

This paper is a tribute to one of the greatest Brazilian intellectuals of the XXth century, Ignacio Rangel, at the Centenary of his birth. The two analytical pillars of his thought are discussed, namely the thesis of the long term “Basic Duality” of the Brazilian economy and of the national political structure, and the idea that economic planning should always involve the identification and use of idle resources. It is argued that his ideas on history and his defense of planning integrate a wider development theory, which combines structural change (industrialization, agrarian modernization, the strengthening of the financial capital, etc.) and a macro-dynamic approach on idle capacity and economic cycles. By way if conclusion the ideas are evaluated from a XXIst century perspective.

JEL Classification: 2B.


The centenary of Ignácio Rangel
José Maria Dias Pereira
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-3157-2014-2465

This article aims to summarize the main points of his work, considering that his theoretical contribution is poorly known of the new generations. It was one of the first to associate the internal cycles of our economy to the cycles of the world economy through the thesis of duality. Inflation was part of the "syndrome of the recession." Out of recession, there should be transfer of resources from activities with idle capacity for latecomers sectors, in case public services.

JEL Classification: E31; E32; E61. 


The Rangel curve: origin, development and formalization of Bresser-Pereira and Nakano
Osmani Pontes Moreno, André de Melo Modenesi
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-3157-2014-2495

For Rangel inflation is caused by oligopolies and is necessary because it prevents a depression in an economy with low propensity to consume. Facing inflation, government prints money to avoid a liquidity crisis. This conception implies a double opposition to monetarist thought: conceives inflation as functional phenomenon and reverses the causality established by the quantitative equation. Bresser and Nakano were highly influenced by Rangel and stress that inflation is caused by oligopolies and also propose a “sanctioning role” of the state. However, these authors go further Rangel arguing that in recession inflation accelerates thus, formalizing a negative relationship between GDP growth and inflation, according with the so called “Rangel curve”.

JEL Classification: B5, B59, E5, E3


Inconvenient glow: Cliometrics and the “golden age” of capitalism
Fernando Rugitsky
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-3157-2014-2313

This paper aims to criticize the recent cliometrics literature on the so-called “golden age” of capitalism. The works of Nicholas Crafts, Gianni Toniolo, and Barry Eichengreen are reconstructed in order to reveal the main characteristics of this research program. Its narrow quantitative focus, its reliance on theoretical propositions borrowed from neoclassical economics, and its auspicious interpretation of the postwar reconstruction are the main focus of the criticism presented. Finally, the cliometricians’ attempt to historicize the “golden age” and de-historicize the following decades is related to the ideological understanding of the recent decades as a period of “great moderation.” 

JEL Classifiction: N00, N01, N10, N40.


Can Brazil repeat the economic miracle?
Fernando de Holanda Barbosa, Fernando de Holanda Barbosa Filho
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-3157-2014-2471

This article analyze the necessary conditions for Brazilian income per capita to duplicate in a time span of fifteen years, as it happened in the 70s. Growth accounting is used to identify the sources of growth of Asian countries (China, Hon Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Koreaand Taiwan) and Brazil during periods where income per capita has doubled in the past. The main restriction for the Brazilian economy to get back the growth performance of the 70s is the low rate of investment. To increase this rate requires a substantial increase of the domestic savings rate. 

JEL Classification: O40; O47.


Update analysis on the international crisis and its impact on the Mexican economy
Juan Carlos Moreno-Brid, Carlos Alberto Fraga-Castillo
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-3157-2014-2413

The aim of this study is to analyze the current state of the Mexican economy in the face of the International crisis. Two questions are asked: Is the International crisis over? Is the Mexican economy strong and resilient enough to face the crisis in the Eurozone? The first of these questions is answered in part 1. The answer to the second question is discussed in the second part of this study. Also examined are the large number of short, medium and long term problems that the Mexican economy will have to face in 2012 and perhaps 2013.

JEL Classification: 01. 


Global crisis, geopolitical changes and insertion of Brazil
Bernardo Campolina, Clélio Campolina Diniz
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-3157-2014-2424

This paper has as its purpose to analyze the insertion of Brazil in the international economic order, considering the fundaments of the world power, the global crisis, the geopolitical changes and their consequences on the global order. The text attempts to present the advantages and structural challenges for an adequate international insertion of technology are the key elements in a process of economic and social innovation whose goals are to build a richer society, more just and compassionate, and environmentally sustainable.

JEL Classification: F01; F02; F5.


Just how capitalist is China?
Tiago Nasser Appel
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-3157-2014-2450

In this paper, we review old and modern conceptions of “capitalism” and then we evaluate how “well” China fares on three touchstones of capitalism: competitive markets, generalization of wage-labour, and private ownership of the means of production. While we accept that China has come a long way under the first two criteria since the 1980s, we do not deem China yet to be a full-fledged capitalist economy for the State still wields great power through the allocation of massive state resources and control of large and highly profitable state enterprises, which dominate key sectors of the economy. 

JEL Classification: B14, E22, L32.


The advancement of the mathematization process in the economic Brazilian academy since the 1980s
Mauricio Martinelli Silva Luperi
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-3157-2014-2339

Looking at the economic discourse, we try to study in this article how has mathematization in economics advanced in Brazil in the last three decades. To see this, we have classified into several categories all articles published in three major economic journals of the country (Revista Brasileira de Economia, Estudos Econômicos and Revista de Economia Política) and the publications made in the meetings ANPEC from 1981 to 2010, according to the type of argument used. The total of articles analyzed adds up to 5.733. We try to see how the path of economic discourse, making it more mathematical, did develop. We found that there was an increased use of a formalized language from the mid-1990s onwards. Finally, to confirm our findings, we focus on the process of mathematization through the observation of quantitative variable: equations per article.

JEL Classification: B29; B41.


Economic stagnation in the United States: underlying causes and global consequences
Robert A. Blecker
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-3157-2014-2448

 This paper analyzes the causes of the slow recovery of the U.S. economy since the financial crisis and Great Recession of 2008-2009. Fallen house values and excessive household debts continue to depress consumer spending, while corporations are failing to invest in spite of record profits. The increasingly unequal distribution of income limits demand, while long-term structural transformations continue to erode employment creation. An expansionary monetary policy has been incapable of sparking a more robust recovery and fiscal policy has been shifted to an austerity stance. In this context, Brazil and other emerging market nations cannot count on the United States to continue to be the leading source of global demand as it was in previous decades.

JEL Classifications: E60; F32; N12; E12.