The Political Economy of Productivity in Brazil

This paper explores the link between Brazil's political institutions and its disappointing productivity and growth in recent decades. Although political institutions provide the president with incentives and the instruments to pursue monetary stability and fiscal discipline they simultaneously raise the costs of achieving those very objectives. The insulation of certain expenditures from presidential discretion necessitates the use of other policy options, such as high taxation levels and cuts in unprotected expenditures, which put a drag on productivity and growth. In a context of robust checks and balances and interest group fragmentation, a state overburdened by constitutional entitlements has resorted to massive increases in taxation. The resulting environment possesses both essential elements for sustainable economic growth and distortions that conspire against its realization. While some improvements in productivity and growth have occurred in the past decade, the pace has been slow and incremental.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Inter-American Development Bank
Other Authors: Lee J. Alston
Format: Working Papers biblioteca
Language:English
Published: Inter-American Development Bank
Subjects:Productivity, O25 - Industrial Policy, O43 - Institutions and Growth, IDB-WP-104,
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0010738
https://publications.iadb.org/en/political-economy-productivity-brazil
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spelling dig-bid-node-97992024-05-30T20:21:26ZThe Political Economy of Productivity in Brazil 2010-03-15T00:00:00+0000 http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0010738 https://publications.iadb.org/en/political-economy-productivity-brazil Inter-American Development Bank Productivity O25 - Industrial Policy O43 - Institutions and Growth IDB-WP-104 This paper explores the link between Brazil's political institutions and its disappointing productivity and growth in recent decades. Although political institutions provide the president with incentives and the instruments to pursue monetary stability and fiscal discipline they simultaneously raise the costs of achieving those very objectives. The insulation of certain expenditures from presidential discretion necessitates the use of other policy options, such as high taxation levels and cuts in unprotected expenditures, which put a drag on productivity and growth. In a context of robust checks and balances and interest group fragmentation, a state overburdened by constitutional entitlements has resorted to massive increases in taxation. The resulting environment possesses both essential elements for sustainable economic growth and distortions that conspire against its realization. While some improvements in productivity and growth have occurred in the past decade, the pace has been slow and incremental. Inter-American Development Bank Lee J. Alston Bernardo Mueller Marcus André Melo Carlos Pereira Working Papers application/pdf IDB Publications Brazil en
institution BID
collection DSpace
country Estados Unidos
countrycode US
component Bibliográfico
access En linea
databasecode dig-bid
tag biblioteca
region America del Norte
libraryname Biblioteca Felipe Herrera del BID
language English
topic Productivity
O25 - Industrial Policy
O43 - Institutions and Growth
IDB-WP-104
Productivity
O25 - Industrial Policy
O43 - Institutions and Growth
IDB-WP-104
spellingShingle Productivity
O25 - Industrial Policy
O43 - Institutions and Growth
IDB-WP-104
Productivity
O25 - Industrial Policy
O43 - Institutions and Growth
IDB-WP-104
Inter-American Development Bank
The Political Economy of Productivity in Brazil
description This paper explores the link between Brazil's political institutions and its disappointing productivity and growth in recent decades. Although political institutions provide the president with incentives and the instruments to pursue monetary stability and fiscal discipline they simultaneously raise the costs of achieving those very objectives. The insulation of certain expenditures from presidential discretion necessitates the use of other policy options, such as high taxation levels and cuts in unprotected expenditures, which put a drag on productivity and growth. In a context of robust checks and balances and interest group fragmentation, a state overburdened by constitutional entitlements has resorted to massive increases in taxation. The resulting environment possesses both essential elements for sustainable economic growth and distortions that conspire against its realization. While some improvements in productivity and growth have occurred in the past decade, the pace has been slow and incremental.
author2 Lee J. Alston
author_facet Lee J. Alston
Inter-American Development Bank
format Working Papers
topic_facet Productivity
O25 - Industrial Policy
O43 - Institutions and Growth
IDB-WP-104
author Inter-American Development Bank
author_sort Inter-American Development Bank
title The Political Economy of Productivity in Brazil
title_short The Political Economy of Productivity in Brazil
title_full The Political Economy of Productivity in Brazil
title_fullStr The Political Economy of Productivity in Brazil
title_full_unstemmed The Political Economy of Productivity in Brazil
title_sort political economy of productivity in brazil
publisher Inter-American Development Bank
url http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0010738
https://publications.iadb.org/en/political-economy-productivity-brazil
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