Vol. 5 No. 3 (1985): Jul-Sep / 1985


Vol. 5 No. 3 (1985)

Jul-Sep / 1985
Published July 1, 1985

Article


Recession, inflation and foreign debt
Ignácio Rangel
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571985-3005

When the economy is in recession, inflation accelerates in the Brazilian economy.
In order that prices go up during recession corporations, in an oligopolist economy, reduce
production and increase prices, instead of doing the contrary, as conventional economies
teach. To overcome recession, it is necessary that entrepreneurs take advantage of the new
opportunities for investment in new dynamic sectors of the economy. In Brazil, public utilities
are the sector that has more opportunities for growth. Private enterprises, national and
multinational, that have now idle capacity and excess savings will transfer these savings. To
public utilities as soon as institutional and financial arrangements make this possible.

JEL Classification: E32; D43.


The debt crisis: a longer-term perspective
Albert Fishlow
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571985-3026

The year of 1984 was characterized by important advances in coping with the
developing country’s debt burden. It is no wonder, in view of these gains registered in 1984,
that there is a certain complacency and even smugness regarding the continuing evolution
of the debt problem. This paper examines four principal issues on which the future evolution
of the debt problem depends. First is the influence of international economic activity on
the performance of the debtor countries. Second, is the permanence of developing country
adjustment. Third, is the stability of the new debt regime that is now in place. And fourth is
the likelihood of the new external resources to replace the decline in commercial bank lending
that is generally forecast.

JEL Classification: F32; F34; H63.


Distribution of income and poverty among families in Brazil, 1980-1983
Rodolfo Hoffmann
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571985-3050

Using yearly data on the distribution of income among families, in Brazil, the
paper shows that in the period 1980-83 the inequality of that distribution is stable but that
the absolute poverty did increase, as a consequence of the economic crisis. The analysis is
carried out for Brazil and for four regions: Northeast, Southeast, South, and Middle-West.
It is shown that the decrease of average family income was greater in the most industrialized
regions.

JEL Classification: J31; O15.


Relations between agriculture and industry in Brazil: 1930-1960
Fernando M. Dall'Acqua
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571985-3061

This research addresses the relationship between agriculture and industry in the
process of capital accumulation in Brazil from the late twenties through the early sixties. It
is an exploration of the dynamics of the intersectoral linkages during the period and of the
effects of state policies on those dynamics. It was shown that while Brazilian agriculture
performed its five traditional functions throughout the period from 1930 to 1960, its performance
was not a history of steady progress on each front. During the fifties, the five functions
appeared to contain internal contradictions which were associated with the establishment
of the durable consumption and heavy capital goods industries. The state policies were
seen as reinforcing those contradictions which contributed to the crisis in the Brazilian economy
of the early sixties.

JEL Classification: Q11; Q14; Q17.


The proletariat as producer and as product
João Bernardo
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571985-3083

The author criticizes the theses according to which the labour force is produced
outside the capitalist production process. In the model he proposes the family wages cover
both the production of goods and services and the production of labour force. The proletariat
considered as input produces surplus value and considered as output embodies surplus
value. The author analyses the relationship between the labour force as output and as input.
He also intends to show that the market role in capitalism is minor, and the state role is the
central one. In changing from output to input the labour force is devalued by the process of
the relative surplus value. At last, he analyses some implications of this model as far as social
struggles are concerned.

JEL Classification: J21; J10; B52.


Bourgeois state and nature of planning in the Northeast
Paulo Henrique N. Martins
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571985-3101

Examining the case of the Northeast, this work seeks to discuss more profoundly
the nature of the modem State in Brazil and the political sense of planning which envelops
its actions. It proceeds from the principle that the question of the “Two Brazils” – which
while no longer a polemical point in purely economic analysis – continues as a controversial
element in the treatment of the national political question, especially with regard to
the Brazilian State. Thus, the idea that the formation of the bourgeoise State in Brazil came
about through an ambiguous coexistence with an oligarchic, conservative, and anti-industrial
State is a tradition that serves merely to confuse our understanding of the particularities
of the constitution of the modem State, social classes, and regional social movements.
Therefore, the recovery of the idea of unity in the study of the formation of the State appears
as a suggestive approach for rediscussing primordial aspects of the national and regional political question and for understanding certain basic elements of the capitalist transformations
which, as evidenced in the Northeast since the end of last century, have assumed sharper
contours during recent decades.

JEL Classification: O15.


External debt and development alternatives in Latin America
Ricardo Ffrench-Davis
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571985-3114

The document proposes that the origin of the foreign debt problem faced by developing
countries is found in the way international capital markets work. A mistaken optimistic
view concerning financial market’s behaviour in the 70’s might extend for many years
since debtor nations have adapted their economic structures to a great amount of external
funds; on the contrary, a shortage of funds is expected in this decade’s last years. These tendencies
will deeply mark the social and economic performances of most countries in this region.
Some of the main options that these nations will be forced to face are analysed in this
text. Apart from the imperative need to fight for a change in the way foreign debt has been
renegotiated, it is also necessary to reorganize their external economic policies. This occurs through the intensification of economic cooperation among debtor nations and through initiating
a new phase of import’s substitution now being coordinated by means of import’s
expansion. Some facts responsible for a better capacity of handling and adjusting different
countries according to the economic strategies they have adopted in the past and to the political
situation each country has to face are also demonstrated here.

JEL Classification: F32; F34; H63.

Notes and Comments


Administrative policy for controlling inflation: some comments
Roberto de Arnaldo Silva Vellutini
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571985-3132

This is a response to a piece by Bresser and Nakano (1984) on the inflation control
policies in Brazil.

JEL Classification: E31.


About the Phillips Curve: A Response
Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira, Yoshiaki Nakano
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571985-3137

This is a response to a piece by Vellutini (1985, published in this edition) in an
ongoing debate on the inflation control policies in Brazil.

JEL Classification: E31.

Document


General guidelines for economic policy: Notes for the 1st DNP of the New Republic, May – 1985
João Sayad
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571985-3140

A reproduction of a speech by minister of Planning João Sayad on the policy
commitments of the first civil government of Brazil’s new republic.

JEL Classification: E60.