The rapid integration of national markets· after the Second World War gave rise
to a complex global system, yet it is a system that lacks a unified institutional framework.
The asymmetrical nature of the process of market integration, the excessive degree of openness
of many national economies, and the behavior of the Japanese economy are three main
factors behind the tensions in the current economic picture. The weakening of the nationstate
as a coordinating instrument for economic activity is to a large degree responsible for
the present cacophony of the economic system. On the other hand, we see no clear indication
that the corporations involved in the transnationalization of the economy are capable
of creating the institutional framework necessary for the coordination of economic activity.

JEL Classification: P17; O40; F30.

The article begins with an analysis of the current financial crisis. emphasizing
three basic components: loans taken out by large productive enterprises in the national and
international credit market; short-term loans taken by all the Third World countries as well
as the majority of European countries in the Soviet sphere: and finally, the fact that every
country shows larger fiscal deficits of an increasingly endogenous nature. It also analyzes the
responsibility of North American economic policy in the crisis. It questions the optimistic
perspectives in relation to the international credit market and points out the necessity for a
coordinated financial solution which would give a new form to the assets and liabilities of
the principal banks and large transnational enterprises, as well as setting the stage for the renegotiation
of the foreign debt in the case. of the most vulnerable national economies.

JEL Classification: F34; F32; F36; H62.

The classical concept of financial crisis is compared to the characteristics of the
present crisis, pointing out its different aspects. The analysis focuses on the foreign debt and
the conditions for its continuity, the link between the direction of the crisis and domestic
policy and the international financial situation and its own crisis. In terms of Latin America,
after analyzing the specific characteristics of some of the most important national economies,
the possibilities and advantages of a joint renegotiation of the debt are discussed. This is an
alternative that calls for a certain degree of audacity which in fact corresponds to the audacity
of international finance capital in its response to eventual crisis.

JEL Classification: F34; F32; F36.

This paper reviewed Brazilian agriculture in the context of a greater “priority”
for the production of food, exportables and energetic crops, as well as the economic recession
from 1981 on. We indicated that the recession had a fundamental role in decreasing
food demand at the same time that contributed to a strong decline in real prices. This seems
to be important in terms of production targets for energetic crops, of exchange and commercial
policies, and of a possible recovery of the world economy. In addition, the negative effects
of the expansion of energetic crops over food production constitute one of the distributive
problems of the Brazilian energy program.

JEL Classificaiton: Q21; Q11; Q18.

This article analyses the conditions under which the growth of industrial enterprises
occurred in Brazil before the 1930’s. Emphasis is placed on the specific. nature of capitalist
risk in industrial enterprise, in an economy dominated by accumulation of coffee capital.
Industrial competition and growth strategies of individual industrial firms are discussed
together with a typology of industrial firms that emerged during this period. Finally, the origin
and growth of a major Brazilian firm is presented as an illustration of what is called the
large “industrial emporium”, a peculiar form of commercial capital engaged in the industry.

JEL Classification: N56; Q12; L66.

Analysis of the Brazilian economy between 1970 and 1982, focusing on its cyclical
nature. After a short analysis of the economy’s expansion up to 1974, the author discusses
alternative theories for the reversion of the cycle. With the subsequent slowdown of economic
growth, we have inflation and an explosive increase in the foreign debt. Finally, the
article analyses the 1981-1982 recession and the underlying distributive crisis.

JEL Classification: O40; O11; E31.

The purpose of this paper is to review some of the basic ideas in the works of
Maurice Dobb and Joseph A. Schumpeter with reference to the methodology of the history
of economic thought. It seems to exist a debate between the authors, as long as Dobb tries to
criticize Schumpeter’s ideas. Their apparently opposite views could be fairly associated with
an “externalist” X “Internalist “ controversy, but it is argued that this is not the case because
they share some common and undiscussed premises. The problem should be to discuss the
real significance of using the tools of economic theory not only by verifying their “practical”
consequences or by isolating the techniques from other levels of analysis but assuming the
relevance of ideological criticism at the methodological plane.

JEL Classification: B41.

This is a reply to a paper from Geraldo Muller on the intersection of agriculture
and industry in Brazil. Although we agree with Muller that one should not take the agricultural
sector as being marked by backwardness, we disagree with the author on the timeframe
given to the relation between the two sectors as being “recent”.

JEL Classification: Q12; L66.

This note is a rejoinder of the reply by Tamás Szmrecsányi. We aim to provide
evidence that the agro-industrial sector in Brazil is indeed recent and that the modernization
of the sector is just beginning.

JEL Classification: Q12; L66.