Unequal federalism and regional inequalities: the case of the coffee policies in Brazil

This work has as its main objective to discuss the nature of Brazilian Federalism and makes considerations on the origins and deepening of regional inequalities in Brazil. The approach of the work is the consideration that, from the perspective of spatial development, the interference of the Central...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of social economics 1999-01, Vol.26 (7/8/9), p.1162-1185
Main Author: Galvao, Olimpio J de Arroxelas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asymmetry
Brazil
Central government
Centralization
Centre-periphery relations
Coffee
Coffee industry
Economic growth
Exports
Federal government
Federalism
Governance
History
Pareto optimum
Planned economy
Politics
Regional inequalities
Social economics
Studies
Taxes
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This work has as its main objective to discuss the nature of Brazilian Federalism and makes considerations on the origins and deepening of regional inequalities in Brazil. The approach of the work is the consideration that, from the perspective of spatial development, the interference of the Central Government in the economy may follow, in principle, four courses of action. First, the state may interfere in the free play of the market by directing its actions to counteract the automatic operation of the market forces, in order to prevent the trend towards increasing spatial inequality; second the state may adopt a neutral position, leaving market forces to follow their natural course; third, the state may pursue a course of action consistent with the natural trend of the market forces, but without biasing the allocative process; and fourth, the state, finally, may interfere in the free play of the market forces, in such a way as to distort the market-price mechanism in the wrong direction - and thus, at variance with the precepts of market economic efficiency, without, however, pursuing any objective related to social justice or spatial equity. By analysing the Brazilian federalism in the light of these four possible forms of government actions, the work attempts to unveil the dominant nature of the Brazilian Central Government policies and their spatial implications, in critical moments of the history of the country.
ISSN:0306-8293
1758-6712
DOI:10.1108/03068299910245877