This paper presents a critical analysis of income and profit taxes in Brazil, arguing that measures adopted in the 1980s and 1990s, as a result of mainstream recommendations, hindered the redistributive role of taxes. An examination of tax data reveals a high degree of top income concentration, low tax progressivity and violations of the principles of horizontal and vertical equity. The main reason for these distortions is the complete tax exemption of dividends, a benefit that is very rarely seen in developed countries. We propose a return to a progressivity-focused tax reform plan, a theme that has returned as a focus of debates with Piketty (2014) 

JEL classification: H24; N46; E62.

The creation of two new development banks – the NDB and the AIIB – has motivated a debate as to whether they will affect the working of the existing development banks, and to whether they will contribute do foster economic development in low income countries. This article shows some differences between the two new institutions, present some estimate of their potential growth in the near future and argues that it is very likely that the two banks will – for both technical and financial reasons – work together with the existing development banks, rather than compete with them. 

JEL Classification: E22; F21; F43; F53; F55; G24.

This paper compares and contrasts Brazilian and Indian strategies of development during the era of neo-liberalism from a long period perspective. The Brazilian economy has attempted to combine the goals of redistribution and social equity with the goals of growth and productivity. India on the other hand has pursued a growth maximizing approach to development, while paying little or no attention to the larger goals of human well-being. The article seeks to understand the dynamics of economic change in the two economies and attempts to draw out the institutional and political factors that have influenced these approaches.

JEL Classification: I00; H5; O5; O20.

The work explores the evaluation of Bresser-Pereira (2007) of which the Brazilian macroeconomic policy expresses the capture of the State by a coalition of rentiers and financiers interests, which also influences financial regulation. To this end, analyzes two investor relations agencies, of the Central Bank and of the National Treasury, and an investment promotion agency formed by regulators and regulated. Argues that these agencies strengthen communication and policymaking channels between regulators and regulated; attest to the influence of financial institutions on public policy decisions; and carry convergence of interests among financial investors and State. Concludes by assessing the thesis of macroeconomic policy capture is feasible and should be researched in a systemic way.

JEL Classification: E5; G0; F3.

 This is a text on economics and interdisciplinarity. It takes account of the plurality of meanings that the practice of interdisciplinarity has assumed in economics, discusses why interdisciplinarity is essential to the study of the economy and analyzes two models of what interdisciplinarity should be in economics. Reference is also made to the obstacles inherent in the practice of interdisciplinarity. Its ultimate goal is to show why the economy (as an object of study), being an open system, cannot be left to economists alone requiring, instead, a pluralistic, political economy understanding of the ‘economic’.

JEL Classification: A12; B4.

This paper aims to provide an interpretation of why behavioral economics has come into the complex field of development economics that draws on insights from methodology of economics. We engage in an extensive survey of the literature that focuses on the actual practice of “behavioral development economics and behavioral economics view of poverty” that emerged in the early years of the 21st century in order to identify and discuss some directions and implications that this movement might carry for economics science and art of Economics. 

JEL Classification: B40; B41; D11; D91.

This paper analyses China’s the current development strategies. This country has been facing a domestic transition period – resulting from contradictions of its current growth regime – and a redesign of its relations with the rest of the world that has promoting a process of reconfiguration of the world order (international transition). Two major axes of this Chinese strategy are the extension of the usage of renminbi to a global level and the internationalization of the Chinese capital through infrastructure megaprojects, chiefly in Asian surroundings.

JEL Classification: O10; F50.

In the late-1960’s, international discussions over a possible reform of the international monetary system originated the Special Drawing Right (SDR). While they had been created initially to represent an additional asset to complement theexisting reserves of U.S. dollars and gold, after the crisis of the Bretton Woods system the SDR was considered a possible substitute of the U.S. dollar. Relying on a consolidated literature, this article aims at demonstrating that the origins of the SDR were not the exclusive result of technical financial negotiations, but of the convergence of higher political interests against the United States and the dollar dominance.

JEL Classification: F33; E42; F02.

This paper aims to expose and discuss which schools of economic thought are able of presenting formulations that dialogue with the spatial conformation of cities in contemporary capitalism. For this, it is based on a presentation of the assumptions of a traditional Neoclassical model of Urban Economics, followed by a critical appreciation of this model. From this critique, different views of the schools of economic thought are exposed in relation to the concept of land rent, which is understood as a category of analysis still useful to understand such a spatial structure, as well as the considerations about the particularities of the urban.

JEL classification: B2; B24; R1; R14; P48.

Taking into account longevity of tax incentives in the automobile sector, this paper intends to pursue two consecutive objectives. Firstly, the paper describes the incentives implemented in the last decades were designed to promote the sector’s competitiveness. Secondly, this article presents a qualitative assessment of the role developed by the State in this segment. Based on literature on political economy and regulation, the claim of this research is that tax policies adopted in favor of automobile sector have favored more a “husbandry” State, rather than a “midwifery” one. In other words, the public policies established were typically oriented to protect a previous defined segment, instead of stimulating new competences and capabilities 

JEL Classification: K23; K34; K52; L62; O25; P16.