Brazilian fiscal federalism is heavily marked by the regional inequalities and the
strong municipalist tradition of the country. These aspects were dominant for building the
model finally adopted by the 1988 Constitution, which aggravated the vertical and horizontal
unbalances in the distribution of fiscal resources, bringing new claim for further reforms.
This paper addresses the difficulties faced since then for pushing proposals for redressing the
above-mentioned unbalances and point out the challenges to be met in order to bring the
fiscal decentralization process in line with the ultimate goals of efficiency and accountability
in the use of public resources.

JEL Classification: H20; H77.

The aim of this paper is to examine the compatibility of Keynes’ monetary production
theory with the “horizontalist” approach to the determination of the interest rates
and the money supply. According to Moore the short-term interest rates are exogenously
determined by central banks, so that the portfolio approach to its determination, based on
the liquidity preference theory, is incorrect. Keynes’ theory, on the other hand, emphasizes
the nature of money as an asset, whose interest rate, endogenously determined by liquidity
preference, will set the limit to the marginal efficiency of other assets. This essay suggests
that the “horizontalist” approach is not compatible with Keynes’s view on “money as a ‘real’
factor”.

JEL Classification: B50; E12.

This paper suggests that antidumping clauses in the World Trade Organization
could have a positive impact in the growth of Third World countries. The labor cost increases
caused would pressure for faster technical change, accelerating growth. The possible
short-term unbalances in the current accounts would be temporary and would vanish in the
long-term. It is also argued that the political alliances to introduce such clauses in an international
organization could be an important change in the world political scene, bringing
hope of forthcoming prevailing international relations that could be more positive for Third
World growth.

JEL Classification: F16; J81.

This paper analyzes the new experiences of industrial relations and its implications
on the wages, the work time, the work qualification and the labor market segmentation
in industrialized countries. The paper is organized in three basic items. In the first,
we present the state of art concerning the theoretical discussion on the new experiences of
industrial relations. The main objective is to present the proposals on the cooperative relationship.
In the second, we analyze the evolution of industrial relations and labor market
regulation in Sweden, Italy and France in the 80’s. Finally, we discuss the influence of the
dynamics of new industrial relations on the work conditions and labor market.

JEL Classification: J81; J83; J23.

Using an input-output framework, this article studies the consequences of income
redistribution from rich people either to poor people or to the government upon the sectoral
structure of the Brazilian economy in the 70’s. Besides the traditional use of elements
of sectoral analysis, the main concept used to achieve this goal is that of “subeconomies”,
focusing on industries (and associated patterns of employment and value added) which produce
the components of particular expenditure bundles. Thus, a subeconomy is composed by
the economic activity derived from determined expenditure groups, such as poor consumer
households, government, etc. Two main results emerge from the empirical application of these
concepts. First, agriculture is the most important sector in the generation of employment
in response to transfers of income from rich to poor households. Second, the urbanization which accompanied growth during the 70’s favours a redistributive strategy in which the
role of government becomes outstanding in terms of generation of both value added and
employment.

JEL Classification: I32; J30; D31.

This paper analyzes the married women labor force participation across income
strata. Both empirical and theoretical evidences indicate that this participation is higher the
lower the husband’s income, which may suggest that women participation in the labor market
is greater among the poor. Our results show, however, that just the opposite relationship
emerges when one considers a more appropriate income concept for poverty matters: household
per capita income, that accounts for women’s earnings. Therefore, policies aimed at
eliminating barriers to their access to the labor market, coupled with the provision of adequate
substitutes for child rearing activities, should contribute to ameliorate poverty.

JEL Classification: J16; J22.

This paper analyzes Japanese investments in Latin America, especially in Chile,
Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela and Brazil. In addition, it discusses the possible impacts that
the free trade agreements being implemented in the region would have on these investments.

JEL Classification: F21; F61; F15.

Latin America has entered a new phase of abundance of capital inflows, bearing
some resemblance to the episode of 70’s. In this paper a review is made of the origins of indebtment
in the 70’s, of the emergence of the crisis in the early 80’s, and of the management
by creditors and debtors during that decade. Some lessons are derived about the working of
international financial markets and policy implications.

JEL Classification: F11; F31; F34.

Ugo Pipitone's book La Salida del Atraso: Un Estudio Histórico Comparativo is reviewed. His main idea concerning the existence of only two preconditions for modernization, namely the presence of a reasonably efficient government which should be freee from corruption and a developed agriculture, is subject to criticism. It is pointed out that other factors such as the stage of cultural and educational development attained by the society in question as well as the income level, the presence of markets for manufactured goods and the existence of an adequate infrastructurem are equally important. It is pointed out that the author´s idea that tipically the modernization process lasts at most two generations (about 50 years), is correct for England and some late starter as Germany and the US, but that this did not hold either for Italy or Japan.

JEL Classification: Y30; O10.