Vol. 4 No. 4 (1984): Oct-Dec / 1984


Vol. 4 No. 4 (1984)

Oct-Dec / 1984
Published October 1, 1984

Article


The economic crisis and the scourge of unemployment
José Serra
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571984-4005

In its first part this paper presents a detailed description of the main characteristics
of the actual Brazilian economic crisis, focusing on its effects on the industrial output, on
investment and employment. Afterwards, the unemployment question is analysed in detail,
including the discussion of various types of existing unemployment, the way through which
they develop in Brazil, the aggravation of the unemployment problem from 1981, and finally,
the author presents the prospects for the next years. José Serra concludes finally that there is
a necessity for a deep change in the economic policy and shows the principal aspects of an
economic strategy that will favour the reduction of unemployment levels.

JEL Classification: J21; O15.


The (Brazilian) inflation according to Marx
Alberto Passos Guimarães
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571984-4026

It is not the prices that vary in accordance with the amount of money in circulation;
it is rather the amount of money in circulation that varies in accordance with the variation
of the sum of prices. It is not the rising of earnings that causes the rising of the prices.
On the contrary, it is the rising of the prices, producing depreciations in the currency, that
provokes in consequence losses of the earnings’ acquisitive power. When increases in the
sum of prices occur, whatever their origins, we will have one of the following inevitable consequences:
on the one hand, the same quantity of commodities is then exchanged for a larger
amount of money; on the other hand, the same amount of money then buys a smaller quantity
of commodities. This happens in the internal trading relations as well as in the international trading relations of each country. In both cases, the main fact to point out is the reduction
of the money’s acquisitive power. This reduction can be produced either spontaneously,
by the action of the forces of the market, or as a result – as in the case of the alterations of
the rate of exchange – by the intervention of the government authority. Therefore, according
to Marx, contrary to the different theories supported by the “vulgar economy”, the inflationary
phenomenon begins with the currency depreciation, of which are consequences or
subsequences, the price increases, and the reduction of the earnings’ acquisitive power. The
Brazilian inflation in the ‘70s and ‘80s was seriously aggravated by the world’s cyclical crisis,
by the capital’s overproduction in the rich countries, by imports of surplus capital through
banking loans, and by the monetary anarchy which displaced the investments of the productive
sectors, deviating them to the non-productive sectors.

JEL Classification: E31; E51; B51.


A note on the secular trend of falling profit rates in Ricardo
Robert Nicol
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571984-4053

The author analyses Ricardo’s proposition that for a one-commodity economy
(a corn-producing economy) in the presence of a growing population and decreasing returns
in agriculture there would be a tendency for the rate of profits to fall. After showing that for
a one-commodity economy Ricardo’s proposition and the demonstration he provided for his
proposition are both correct, the author analyses what would happen in a two-sector economy,
that is, an economy with a stagnant agriculture and an industrial (or, perhaps, a commercial)
sector subject to technological progress. With the aid of a Sraffa type of model it
is shown that Ricardo’s proposition is correct even in this case, that is, in a closed economy
where agriculture is not subject to technological progress, even if the economy has other sectors
where there are gains in productivity, a growing population leads to a fall in the rate of
profits and eventually to stagnation in the economy.

JEL Classification: Q10; O13.


Mixed economy and State jurisdiction: towards a theory of State intervention in the Economy
René Villarreal
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571984-4062

This paper presents a discussion of the State intervention in the economy, registering
the present conceptions of economic thoughts. The view of the role of the State in
the different economic doctrines: the classic doctrine, the Marxist doctrine, the Keynesian
doctrine, the structuralism of CEPAL (Economic Mission to Latin American) doctrine, and
the liberal monetarist doctrine is discussed. Then, he concludes that the contemporary crisis
claims the appearance of a new paradigm that will have to develop itself through neo-structuralism,
post-Keynesianism, and economic policy synthesis, in order to constitute a true scientific
revolution.

JEL Classification: P16; P10; H11; B12; B14; B22.


Female industrial employment and the Brazilian economic crisis
Helena Hirata, John Humphrey
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571984-4089

Female industrial employment grew rapidly in the nineteen seventies, but the sexual
division of labour remained very strong. This raises the possibility of women’s employment
not being disproportionately reduced as a result of the economic crisis in the nineteen
eighties. A study of a large electrical factory in São Paulo revealed that management had
clearly discriminatory criteria for selection of workers to be dismissed, but in the absence of
a change in the sexual division of labour, the reduction of women ‘s share of employment in
the factory was merely short-term and cyclical. However, the labour force was restructured
in other ways during the initial crisis period, in 1981.

JEL Classification: J71; J21; J20.


Land rent: a necessary theoretical concretion
Reinaldo A. Carcanholo
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571984-4108

The agro-exporting sector’s capacity to transfer value to the industrial sector, especially
during the initial expansive phase, has normally been attributed to its power to generate
differential rent. However, at the abstraction level at which it is treated, the problem
has not been resolved. This paper attempts to develop a theory of land rent at a specific concreteness
level which will permit its adequate use. After refining the concept of differential
rent, the suppositions of the non-existence of pre-capitalist forms and national frontiers are
abandoned. With this, new categories are discovered: general differential rent, national differential
rent, and absolute national monopoly rent.

JEL Classification: Q14; Q10.

Notes and Comments


Notes on the evolution of the tax burden
Carlos A. Longo
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571984-4124

This piece compiles statistics for the tax revenue in Brazil and abroad with the aim of understanding income tax and its relevance as a source of federal funding. The main
conclusion is how the income tax is a minor source of revenue for the Brazilian State.

JEL Classification: H22; H21; H24.


The world economic scenery 18 months after the beginning of North American recovery
José Antônio Martins
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571984-4135

This analysis focus on the recent recovery of the American economy and the reasons
behind it. It also aims to understand if this process should spillover to the global economy.

JEL Classification: O40; O51.


The theoretical trap of the stabilization policy
Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira, Yoshiaki Nakano
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy
https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-31571984-4146

This piece offers a critique of the theoretical background used by the
International Monetary Fund as reference for its stabilization programs. It also sheds light
on the role of interest on old debt and the differences between the monetarist and Keynesian
approach to balance of payments.

JEL Classification: F34, H63.