Vol. 11 No. 2 (1991): Apr-Jun / 1991


Vol. 11 No. 2 (1991)

Apr-Jun / 1991
Published April 1, 1991

Article


Degree of monopoly and pricing in Kalecki: a critical assessment
Cláudio Gontijo
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571991-0727

This article examines the historical roots and logical consistency of Kalecki’s theory of degree of monopoly and price determination in an input-output framework. It shows that the Kaleckian theory of prices is open in S0 far as it does not provide any systematic explanation about the determination of individuals mark-ups. Besides, it shows that the mark-up for the economy as a whole does not depend on the conditions of competition. A consistent way to close the system would be to determine the average mark-up through the Marxian rate of pro-fits and the oligopoly prices as deviations from prices of production.

JEL Classification: E11; B24; D42.


An interpretation of the Kalecki price equation
Afonso Henriques Borges Ferreira
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571991-0729

The purpose of this note is to discuss the linear version of Kalecki’s price equation. First, the pertinence of the restrictions imposed by Kalecki to the value of the parameters of the equation is examined. Then, the economic meaning of these parameters is made explicit. Fi-nally, in the light of the previous discussion, a reinterpretation of the Kaleckian price equation is suggested.

JEL Classification: D40; D47


The monetary economy, savings and financing: from the Treatise to the General Theory
Ernani Teixeira Torres Filho
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571991-0839

The idea of monetary economy played an important role in Keynes’s movement from the Treatise on Money (1930) to the General Theory (1936). He was trying to work a new economic paradigm, which in opposition to the classical Say’s Law, could deal with the fluctuations and uncertainties of the real world. The purpose of this article is to present Keynes’s theories of savings and finance in the Treatise and after and to show the importance of the 1936-1937’s version to the functioning of a real world economy.

JEL Classification: B22; B31


The relation between money and value in Marx
Maria de Lourdes Rollemberg Mollo
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571991-0835

This paper is an interpretation of Marx’s Theory of Value. Attention is called to the link which Marx has established between value and money, in capitalist economies, both in the sense of the genesis of money from commodities and value, and in the sense of the imposition of the law of value through monetary restriction. In the first part, value is defined as social represen-tation of labor in capitalist economies. The second part analyses the imposition of the law of value to commodities through money. Finally, the third part analyses how the law of value imposes itself over money.

JEL Classification: B14; B31; D46


A Keynesian model for determining the level of employment and wages
Reynaldo Fernandes
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571991-0828

This paper discusses the determination of wages and employment under a
Keynesian perspective, stressing mainly the microeconomic aspects of the effective demand.
The adopted approach follows the “Weintraub tradition”. It is argued that the level of
employment depends only upon the effective demand assuming that relative prices are
rigid. However, the real wage is a function also of the level of employment and the relation
between nominal wages and the user cost.

JEL Classification: E12; E24.


The budgetary process in Brazil
Carlos Alberto Longo
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571991-0692

Brazil, as well as most Latin American countries, have an inflated public sector,
which follows from the expansive government policies pursued until late 70’s, largely
financed by external indebtedness. Currently, the lack of transparency and the complexity of
public sector accounts hinder the effectiveness of stabilization policies and the productivity
of state enterprises. Federal government budget is often balanced, but it does not cover
expenditures of the whole public sector. A large amount of subsidies to state enterprises and
local treasuries are provided indirectly with federal funds through state banks and monetary
authorities. A full-scale bailing out program to alleviate highly indebted enterprises will
allow the Central Bank and other financial intermediaries to stop acting as a lender of
last resort. In order to fully recover the effectiveness of government policies it is necessary
to decentralize national expenditures, grant autonomy to local governments and state
enterprises and to minimize their financial mutual dependence.

JEL Classification: H11


Economic integration and harmonization of economic policies in North America and Southern Cone
José Tavares de Araújo Jr.
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571991-0686

This paper compares the negotiating process of two trade agreements: Canada/
USA and Argentina/Brazil. The main topic discussed is the harmonization of economic policies.
In order to create a free trade area or a common market, governments have to face a
difficult choice, between the economic benefits of a integration and the political costs of a
restricted sovereignty. Two different configurations of this dilemma are analyzed in the paper.

JEL Classification: F15; F63


Financing agricultural development
Roberto de A. S. Vellutini
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571991-0703

Even with the natural decrease in relative participation of the agricultural sector
as economies develop, it continues to be a pivotal sector, particularly for those economies
that have not yet achieved great development levels. This paper aims to explain how this
important sector has been (or not) financed for the past decades and how this impacts
agricultural development.

JEL Classification: Q14; Q18


A historical outline of the Chicago experiment
Aníbal Pinto
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571991-0708

The historical precedents of the neoliberal experiment in Chile have been scarcely
studied. However, it can be argued that the feasibility of this experience was contingent
upon the bases built during previous periods of the Chilean development, starting from the
1940’s. The export growth and diversification of the neoliberal period was based on three
main economic sectors: fresh fruit and vegetables, forestry, and fishery. The development of
these sectors was in tum based on CORFO’s development programs which combined private
and public efforts with, in some cases, foreign assistance. Also, the copper nationalization
process in 1971 was instrumental to the strengthening of the state’s economic capabilities.
These facts point out a very significative difference between Chilean neoliberalism and other
orthodox experiments within Latin America.

JEL Classification: B22

Comments


The Proálcool biofuels program in the context of the Brazilian energy strategy
Manfred Nitsch
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571991-0712

The biofuel programme was started in 1975 and greatly enhanced in 1979/81 as
a reaction to the price hikes of oil and the simultaneous price drops of sugar. It never became
economically viable, but has always owed its existence to state support which, in tum was
vindicated by the powerful sugar interests. Since only Otto engine (not Diesel) motors can be
driven by alcohol, the individual passenger car traffic with its well-known waste of energy
turns out to be highly subsidized in Brazil, in spite of the country’s serious overall energy
shortage. Future prospects for biofuel are generally bleak, for even with steeply rising oil
prices energy in the form of food is bound to be more expensive than energy for heating and
transport so that mineral coal and wood are much more probable candidates as fuel sources
than sugarcane and edible oils, once the era of oil comes to its end.

JEL Classification: Q29; L72.


Creditor banks and Brazilian debt
Gilton Carneiro dos Santos
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571991-0711

This paper deals with the international bank’s adjustment process to the
external debt of the less developed countries. It starts with an overview of the American
banks’ financial situation during the eighties. It concludes that, after Brazil’s default in 1987,
banks are willing to strengthen their capital structure, but they still have risks to face.

JEL Classification: G21; H63