Lula Governments: the consumption era?

Vol. 39 No. 1 (2019)

Jan-Mar / 2019
Published January 1, 2019
PDF-Portuguese (Português (Brasil))
PDF-Portuguese (Português (Brasil))

How to Cite

Sicsú, João. 2019. “Lula Governments: The Consumption Era?”. Brazilian Journal of Political Economy 39 (1):128-51. https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-35172019-2870.

Lula Governments: the consumption era?

João Sicsú
Professor do Instituto de Economia da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – IE/UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, Brasil.
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2019), Jan-Mar / 2019, Pages 128-151

Abstract

The Lula governments (2003-2010) were labeled “the consumption era” and for excessive household indebtedness. At the least, this label is imprecise. The objective of this article is to analyse the period between 2003-2010 through objective information and supported by Post-Keynesians and Keynes’s theory. The conclusion was that consumption was only the starting point. In fact, during this period, the most important event was the growth of public and private investments. During both terms of the Lula government investments grew much more than consumption. Besides this, the level of Brazilian household debt grew rapidly, but this level cannot be considered excessive when compared with international standards. This article also shows that this indebtedness did not provoke the economic downturn in 2011.

JEL Classification: E12; E20; E32.


Keywords: Lula Governments Consumption Private and public investment Post- Keynesian approach