Institutions and economic development

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to determine the direction of the Vargas Government's economic policy during the New State, within the context of the restrictive international situation caused by the Second World War. In order to do so, we analyzed speeches by President Getúlio Vargas and the Minister of Finance, Artur de Souza Costa, among others, and the Federal Government Balance Sheet, in order to compare their intentions with the results obtained. The findings indicate that there were changes in the institutional environment aimed at contributing to the weighted use of certain economic policy instruments, marked by limitations imposed by the establishment of formal rules. In addition, formal institutions were created with the purpose of promoting cooperation to provide favorable financial conditions for the improvement of the national economy in the post-war period.