Vol. 33 No. 2 (2013): Apr-Jun / 2013


Vol. 33 No. 2 (2013)

Apr-Jun / 2013
Published April 1, 2013

Article


Narratives of emergence: Rising powers and the end of the Third World?
Andrew Hurrell
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

This article examines recent arguments from development economists, from historians and from international relations specialists that do challenge the continued relevance of the idea of the Third World. It then examines five reasons why these arguments are wrong. We can indeed understand much about emerging powers in terms of how they are seeking to navigate and best position themselves within an existing state-centric, liberal and capitalist order whilst accepting many of the underlying assumptions and values of that order. But the nature of that navigation has been shaped by their historical trajectory and by the developmental, societal and geopolitical context of their emergence.

JEL classification: F02.


Developmentalism and new-developmentalism. Theoretical roots and conceptual precision
Maria de Lourdes Rollemberg Mollo, Pedro Cezar Dutra Fonseca
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

This paper starts from the conceptualism of New Developmentalism which was proposed by its formulators and their criticism of the “old” developmentalism in order to compare both. It is elaborate in theoretical and historical levels. In the former, it explores the theoretical streams that contributed to the formulation of economic policies that designated the Latin American developmentalism. In the latter, it focuses on the economic policy of the Brazilian import-substitution industrialization and advocates the impropriety of associating it to the irresponsibility in the management of the foreign exchange, fiscal and monetary policies, as the proposers of New Developmentalism assert. Finally, in a third stage, it resumes the propositions of the New Developmentalism and debates the pertinence of some of its policy propositions based upon theoretical considerations and the Brazilian experience which were mentioned in the previous stages.

JEL Classification: B15; O11; O23; N16.


The circular causation of growth in developing economies: a bridge between evolutionary and post Keynesian approaches
Daniela Almeida Raposo Torres, Marco Flávio da Cunha Resende
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

Based on the Post Keynesian approach and on the Evolutionary literature, this study seeks to demonstrate the causal relationships between the National Innovation System and the national and international financial systems. This study shows that there is a circular causation in the less developed economies that contributes to the immaturity of its National Innovation System and to its structural external vulnerability. Conclusions highlight that the cycles in the less developed economies mirror the cycles of international liquidity.

JEL Classification: O40; O43.


A note on the Pazos-Simonsen mechanism and Kaldor s early research on Latin American inflation
Leonardo Vera
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

In contrast with the inflationary finance story, inflation acceleration in Latin America has been explained as the result of the interaction of inflation dynamics and the frequency of wage adjustments. Accordingly, small inflation disturbances are connected with a shift from moderate to high inflation (or beyond to hyperinflation) trough a mechanism that makes adjustment intervals in wage contracts endogenous. Rudiger Dornbusch (1986) labeled this process the “Pazos-Simonsen mechanism.” In this note we summarize the basic contribution of both Felipe Pazos (1978) and Mario Henrique Simonsen (1983) and find crucial differences between their views on wage dynamics, specifically regarding the endogeneity of the time interval between wage readjustments. A remarkable affinity with Pazos’s view on wage dynamics and inflation is found in an early and almost unknown essay written by Nicholas Kaldor in 1957 (inspired in his brief experience in Latin America). 

JEL Classification: B31; B50; E24; E31.


Law and economic order in John R.Commons thought
Sebastião Guedes
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

The paper has analyzed the John R. Commons' contribution to the comprehension of the Law and Economics relationship. In contrast to the orthodox economics, Commons has shown that the capitalist economic order emerges and function regulated by laws and institutions. This approaches made possible to him to understand the nature of the modern capitalist wealth and the problems that time introduce in the economic transactions.

JEL Classification: B15; B31.


Income-transfer policies in Brazil and Argentina
Rosa Maria Marques
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

This article deals with the conditioned income-transfer developed by the governments of Lula and Dilma, in the Brazilian case, and by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, in Argentina. In other words, the programs Bolsa Família and “Asignación Universal por Hijo para Protección Social”. They are comparatively analyzed with regard to their institutionality, the access criteria, the conditionings and the concept of poverty, in order to discuss whether or not they constitute a social right and the relative importance of the amount given.

JEL Classification: I30; I38.


The effects of fiscal policy after the global recession: Assessing the evidences
Luiz Fernando de Paula, Manoel Carlos de Castro Pires
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

This paper offers a commented review of the most recent empirical studies of the effects of fiscal contraction on economic growth which have helped underpin the prescription that fiscal policy should be expansionary in coming years in order to contain economic semi-stagnation in the developed countries. The paper shows that there is ample literature showing that fiscal expansion helps the economy grow, and that fiscal contraction tends to reduce output and employment in the short term. 

JEL Classification: E61; E62; H3.


Corporate banking credit in Brazil: recent evolution and perspectives
Daniela Magalhães Prates, Maria Cristina Penido de Freitas
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

This article aims to analyse the evolution of the corporate banking credit market in Brazil during the recent cycle (january 2003 to june 2009) from a Keynesian theoretical reference point. The article focuses on the dynamics of the six major segments of this market (industry, commerce, services, infrastructure, real estate and rural sector), highlighting their main similarities and differences concerning the cyclical dynamics, the participation in the total corporate banking credit, the origin of resources, the composition of capital ownership and the performance of public and private banks.

JEL Classification: E44; E51.


Perspectives of the negotiations between Mercosur and the European Union in a context of multilateral system paralysis and new global economic geography
Patrícia Luíza Kegel, Mohamed Amal
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

 The aim of this paper is to scale the impact of changes in the patterns of international trade and Foreign Investment and how the shift in the world economic geography affects the relations between Mercosur and the European Union. The perception is that the outcome of negotiations between the two blocks is linked to the paralysis of the multilateral system and the European perspective of the economic dimension of the Agreement. The study suggests that the European Union faces conceptual and operational problems to establish clear goals and business strategies towards Mercosur and how to them under a new global economic geography.

JEL Classification: F53; F13.


Ignacy Sachs and the Spaceship Earth
Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

This paper is a short survey of the work of Ignacy Sachs – one of the pioneers of structuralist development economics and an outstanding economist dedicated to environmental economics. Sachs is Polish and a disciple of Michael Kalecki, but he is also a Brazilian and a French, given his strong ties with these two countries. He knows the importance of markets in the coordination of the economy, but, as a developmental economist, he attributes a key role to economic planning. Only through the deliberate action of the state it will be possible to achieve economic growth, reduction of inequalities, and protection of the environments – only through deliberate action way men and women will be able to conduct the Spaceship Earth to economic, social and environmental development and assure a decent work to all.

JEL Classification: O10; O20.