Brazil's Tropical Plan
分析巴西1964-66年和1986年两次稳定化努力,指出通胀具有制度性特征,收入政策对非衰退稳定至关重要,但需求约束也不可或缺。
This paper highlights the institutional features of the inflation process and contrasts two stabilization efforts in 1964-66 and in 1986.The inflation process in Brazil is highly institutional. It does not resemble hyperinflations where pricing and wage setting are geared to the exchange rate by the hour, making it possible to stop inflation by simply containing money creation and fixing the exchange rate. The two stabilization programs demonstrate that an incomes policy is an essential ingredient to non-recessionary stabilization. But they also show that demand restraint is inevitable if disinflation is to be viable. The 1964 program was gradualist and two-handed, relying on the supply side on wage repression. The 1986 plan was a heterodox shock treatment centered around an uncompromising price freeze and paying insufficient attention to the need for fiscal restraint.