Researchers collaborating on the project "Political Institutions and Public Spending: a study of the Brazilian States"
Members
Ciro Biderman
George Avelino Filho
Fernando Luiz Abrúcio
Carlos Pereira
Glauco Peres da Silva
State and Economy
An evaluation of the relations between the Central Bank and the commercial banks in Brazil
Although the role of regulatory agencies, in particular the Central Bank, is to submit the ones being regulated to the decisions, some authors argue that it is reasonable to suppose that the decisions taken by regulatory agents are in fact in the interest of the regulated. This situation is known as regulatory capture. This project assess whether this situation occurs in Brazil, in particular in the case of Central bank participation on the decisions concerning the basic interest rate. The banks, via their funds, are the largest holders of government bonds which are largely remunerated based on the basic interest rate. Thus, the project observes whether it is possible to say that the Central Bank, when deciding about the basic interest rate, favors the position of the commercial bank system. Econometric models will be developed in order to measure the level of capture based on agent-principal theories and the economic models of regulation.
From Glauco Peres da Silva and Raquel de Freitas Oliveira.
Political Institutions and Public Spending: a study of the Brazilian States
One of the main features of the Brazilian redemocratization was the decentralization of political and administrative power. This process constitutes a historical novelty by changing the Brazilian federalism by increasing the importance of state and municipal governments. This historical change sparked new bibliographical production relating to local power in Brazil. The vast majority of the studies, however, analyzed the municipalities. Therefore, it is reasonable to say that the comparative knowledge about state politics is still insufficient. To this existing gap it is possible to add another one: the effects of the institutions and the political game on the public Budget in Brazil are poorly understood. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to investigate the effects of the institutions and the political modus operandi on the allocation of public funds in state governments. The investigation looks at two groups of variables: the first focus on electoral features and the second on government aspects. A novelty of this research is to search for empirical and comparative knowledge about state-level politics and how it affects the distribution of public funds. Another highlight is the construction of a new database on this issue which will be made available to the academic community counting on a partnership with the Brazilian Political Science Association (ABCP) in order to achieve this.
Monetary authority and the financial system during the Brazilian National Constituent Assembly (1987-88)
This is an undergraduate research project which aims to fulfill the existing gap in the literature in the following aspect: to understand the disputes that took place in the Brazilian National Constituent Assembly (1987-88) over the definition of monetary policies, the financial system and the role of the Brazilian Central Bank by establishing a typology of groups that could capture what was at stake in the constitution-making process on this matter.
From Samir Luna de Almeida.
Samir Luna de Almeida
Mini CV:
Almeida is an undergraduate student in Social Sciences of the Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Human Sciences, University of São Paulo. He is a research assistant of the Politics and Society Group – upon the coordination of Prof. Dr. Dr. Fernando Limongi (DCP/USP) – at the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP).