From the assumption that Economics or Political Economy is a science ideologically
conditioned, the author distinguishes a conservative from a progressist or liberal approach.
This distinction is made in three levels: 1) basic theory, more specifically value theory;
2) macroeconomic theory; 3) economic policy.

JEL Classification: B41.

This article develops the idea that the three basic theories of inflation (the monetary,
the fiscal, and the inertial) complement one another. This interpretation brings about
two important policy issues: first, the necessity of the coordination between fiscal and monetary
policy; and second, the necessity of the synchronization of anti-inflationary measures
on the demand and cost side to break up the link between the present and past inflation due
to the indexation. These questions are developed in the context of Brazilian institutional
homework, of a multiplicity of budgets, formal indexation, and a peculiar monetary system.
Finally, alternative policies are critically evaluated.

JEL Classification: E31.

This article presents a review of current literature and debates on Brazilian agriculture,
identifying three basic approaches – the articulation view, the classical proletarianisation
interpretation, and analyses which take as their starting point the concept of the
agro-industrial complex. There follow the outlines of a general critique of each approach
together with an alternative framework for analysing rural structures. In the final section,
an attempt is made to synthetise the principal tendencies restructuring Brazilian agriculture
both regionally and in terms of a typology of the principal forms of production.

JEL Classification: Q15; Q10; Q18.

Starting from the consolidated government budget constraint it is possible to illuminate
a number of issues concerning Brazil’s current economic situation. The main conclusions
that emerge from the analysis are that the fiscal imbalance will require a substantial
increase in the government’s debt in real terms and that the impact of this increase on interest
rates may have perverse explosive intertemporal consequences. We then discuss and dismiss
the “new (external) money” solution for the problem, arguing that Brazil does not face
a foreign exchange problem, but a domestic budgetary problem. The debt-service transfer
is being made, but not by the principal debtor, the government. The private sector pays the
external bill for the government and becomes the government’s creditor domestically. In the
long run, to obtain simultaneous external and internal balance Brazil will have to solve the
internal budgetary problem.

JEL Classification: H62; H63.

A simple model is developed to deal with the financial dimension of the public
and its relation to external adjustment. The effects of an exchange devaluation, of an easing
of the external restriction, and the role of fiscal policy under a wealth-effect intense enough
are discussed. Finally, a comment on the determinants of the rate of interest and its intertemporal
aspects.

JEL Classification: H62; H63.

Modern industrialization in the Brazilian periphery had its pre-conditions established
in Bahia in the 1950’s (the Paulo Afonso hydro-electric plant on the São Francisco
River, the extraction and refinement of oil near the state capital – Salvador, and highway
connections with the Brazilian Center-South). The State, therefore, assumed relatively early
an active role on the regional level. Meanwhile, the resulting flow of money in Salvador ac-centuated the traditional importance of commerce and banking, reinforced since the seventies
by major public works and the building of a petrochemical complex. In Pernambuco, in
contrast, the “new industry” promoted by recent governmental incentives has found an old
industrial experience and produced a more diversified and less capital-intensive activity. As
a result, Recife presents maybe a more pluralistic structure, but lower levels of income and
consumption than Salvador. The article calls attention to the importance of the banking sector
in Bahia, which is behind the failure of early industrialization, while contemporarily it is
critical in the region’s articulation with supra-regional processes.

JEL Classification: R11; R12.

The note provides an analysis of the recent deceleration of the Brazilian industry
and challenges the idea that the sector would be already recovering.

JEL Classification: O47; O40.

This is an analysis of the recent experiences of Argentina in fighting against inflation,
It shows that it is possible to provide political negotiations for the stabilization plans
and the limit of IMF offers.

JEL Classification: E31.

A symposium regarding the monetary reform enacted by Argentina.

JEL Classification: E3.

This is a reproduction of the government plans for the management of the foreign
debt.

JEL Classification: H63.

This is a reproduction of the government plans for organizing the financial system
and the internal debt.

JEL Classification: H63.