Public finance in the “Estado Novo”, 1937-45

Abstract

State intervention in the economy and governmental public policies are usually
regarded in peripherical economies as one of the main factors in the development process.
According to most historians, the period of the Estado Novo had a great importance in the
recent evolution of the Brazilian economy, representing a turning point from the primary-export
system to the present one, based on the industrial sector and the internal market. The
article intends to test these hypotheses in quantitative and qualitative terms, by comparing
the evolution of Brazilian public finance between 1938 and 1945 with the previous and the
ulterior eight-year periods (from 1930 to 1937, and from 1946 to 1953).

JEL Classification: N46; N16; H16.