Vol. 28 No. 4 (2008): Oct-Dec / 2008


Vol. 28 No. 4 (2008)

Oct-Dec / 2008
Published October 1, 2008

Article


Globalization and monetary inconvertibility
Ricardo Carneiro
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

The central hypothesis of this article is that in the context of globalization, monetary inconvertibility is a crucial problem of peripheral countries. It begins with a brief review of the debate from a historical point of view and then stresses the contemporary opposite’s views on the fragility of financial system of emerging countries: the original sin and the debt intolerance hypothesis. Despite of supporting the first one, the article goes further and explores the domestic implication of inconvertibility. It criticizes the jurisdicional uncertainty proposition showing that an inherent flaw in the store of value of emerging market currencies, derived from original sin is the main reason for de facto inconvertibility and underdevelopment of domestic financial system of these countries.

JEL Classification: O110.


Globalization, nation-state and catching up
Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

Globalization and nation-states are not in contradiction, since globalization is the present stage of capitalist development, and the nation-state is the territorial political unit that organizes the space and population in the capitalist system. Since the 1980s, Global Capitalism constitutes the economic system characterized by the opening of all national markets and a fierce competition between nation-states. Developing countries tend to catch up, while rich countries try to neutralize such competitive effort, using globalism as an ideology, and conventional orthodoxy as a strategy. Middle-income countries that are catching up in the realm of globalization are the ones that count with a national development strategy. This is broadly the case of the dynamic Asian countries. In contrast, Latin American countries have no longer their own strategy, and grow less. To add data to the argument, the author conducts an econometric test comparing these two groups of countries, and three variables: the rate of investment, the current account deficit or surplus that would indicate or not a competitive exchange rate, and public deficit.

Jel Classification: F31; F32; F4.


An analysis of the national development strategy of Malaysia
Cleomar Gomes, Clemens Nunes
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

This paper aims at studying Malaysia's national development strategy in the last three decades. Firstly, we will give emphasis to the country's economic planning development, its medium-term and long-term plans, as well as Mahathir's political influence. Secondly, we will try to identify key elements in the Malaysian growth process, such as its exchange rate and current account policies, the participation of the government in the whole process and matters related to domestic savings and foreign direct investment. We will also talk about the 1997 financial crisis.

JEL Classification:  O11; O21; O24; O53.


Capital account liberalization and economic growth evidences from data in Latin-American panel
Aderbal Oliveira Damasceno
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

The aim of this paper is to carry out an empirical analysis about the relation between Capital Account Liberalization and Economic Growth having as object of study the experience of l6 countries of latin America with annual data for the period 1986-2000. The econometrical calculations do not corroborate the hypothesis that the liberalization of Capital Account would stimulate the economic growth. The results suggest an adverse effect of the liberalization of Capital Account on the real growth gross domestic product per capita of the countries.

JEL Classification: F33; F36; F43.


Public debt, government current account saving and primary surplus an analysis of sustainability
Alexandre Manoel Angelo da Silva, Manoel Carlos de Castro Pires
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

On this paper, we propose a change in the primary surplus’ target by the government current account saving. That concept excludes public investment from primary surplus. However, of that change has raised a question about if government current account saving represents a sustainable fiscal policy. Thus, this paper analyses if the change in the primary surplus’ target by the government current account saving implies a meaning modification on the debt-to-GDP ratio path. The empirical analysis, which is based on Brazilian monthly data for the period 1999-2005, suggests that the change in fiscal target does not mean a lack of sustainability.

JEL Classification: H62; H63; H69.


Tax expenditures with healthcare in Brazil: the behavior between the years 1996 and 2003
Bernardo Sicsú, Maria de Fátima Siliansky de Andreazzi, Tássia Gazé Holguin
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

This article presents an economic approach trying to get the interrelations between the private expenditures on health care and the tax expenditures. It shows an overview of the family’s expenses on health care confronted to the total of the same item declared to Secretaria da Receita Federal (Income Tax) that was converted into tax expenditures.

JEL classification: I18.


Inflation targets in perspective the influence of the reputation-credibility-transparency trinomial on economics
Gabriel Caldas Montes
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

 Although target regime seeks to serve as a reference for the expectation formation process of the agents, its implementation does not necessarily imply the acquisition or the best result in terms of economic growth. The present article aims the development of a model that explains, by firms' investment decisions, the prodict path behavior, undertaking monetary authority may present distinct situations associated with the reputation-credibility-transparency trinomial. The article also detaches different kinds of reputation and its degrees.

JEL Classification: E12; E22; E31; E58.


Banking and regional inequality in Brazil an empirical note
Marcos Lima, Marcelo Resende
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

The paper investigates a neglected aspect of regional inequality in Brazil, namely regional inequalities related to financial flows. A synthetic regional financial inequality index is proposed and calculated in a semester basis over the 02-1994/02-2000 period. The inequality measure attempts to capture to what extent deposits in a given state translate into credit operations in that locality. Two main results emerge. First, non-negligible inequality patterns emerge when one considers the segment of private banks and those are consistent with an important proportion of states with a predominantly exporting pattern, for which deposits surpasses loans in that locality. Second, if one focus on the segment of public banks, an opposite pattern appears,that is consistent with decision patterns that might have, in part, a regional development motivation.

JEL Classification: G21; O18.


Industrial policy and credible commitments a proposal of analysis and of governmental action
Robson Antonio Grassi
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

This paper analyses the question of the counterparts that governments should claim from firms and/or economic sectors supported by vertical industrial policy. This is a discussion that still have to advance because everything indicate that the set of current counterparts (goals of costs, productivity, exportation, etc) still may be increased and improved, what will facilitate the assessment of industrial policy execution by society and the verification of its efficacy in order to yielding more possibilities of economic growth for a country or region. To reinforce the commitment credibility of the agents supported by industrial policy, this paper proposes to maintain the counterparts meant before and that such agents will be stimulated to commit specific assets in their activities that are supported by govern. It is shown that, without use more public resources than the used currently, this new counterpart may reinforce substantially the incentives that the firms supported by vertical industrial policy have it to execute the traditional counterparts assumed by them, and with it guarantee the best possible use of public resources.

JEL Classification: L14; L52; O38.