Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS) - (Working papers)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/38293

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Author: search.filters.author.Constantino, João Paulo

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    Urban property, expropriation and wealth concentration in Brazil
    (Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS), 2023-08-14) Fix, Mariana; Constantino, João Paulo; Prado, André Doca
    The complete process of housing production is an important element in defining patterns of inequality. This paper aims to identify and characterise changes and continuities in the real estate wealth, with a focus on the residential segment. In doing so, we observed several two-way interactions, situating them in the long duration of the constitution of highly unequal structures in Brazil. In particular, we describe the reconstitution of the credit system by the Workers' Party government, in the 2000s, as a moment when interactions with the theme of inequality became more complex. The reorganisation of the regulatory framework and the expansion of housing credit in the 2000s generated a substantial increase in real estate activity and created a housing boom. In the text, we present three rounds of IPOs from real estate developers and discuss the most significant (2006-2008). While this round originated in the increase in real estate credit, its sustainability only occurred thanks to a housing policy that mobilised billions of reais (BRL) in subsidies for the construction of millions of houses. The amount was unprecedented and allowed the policy to reach social strata that had not had access to formal housing before – in this sense, it responded to a social and political demand. On the other hand, this volume of public funds was also significant for the financial real estate circuit. This increase in scale gave more power to homebuilders that decisively influenced the design of the housing programme. Some effects of this conflictive and multidimensional process on the struggle for the right to the city are discussed throughout the text.
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    The Brazilian Tax System: Regressive and Biased
    (Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS), 2023-07-12) Bressan, Lucas; Cordilha, Ana Carolina; Constantino, João Paulo; Rubin, Pedro
    Brazil's tax system plays a central role in perpetuating and deepening the country's alarming levels of income and wealth inequality. The goal of this article is to unpack the regressive and biased nature of the Brazilian tax system. It combines data from national and international institutions for the past two decades to provide a comprehensive understanding of the tax system's role in shaping income and wealth gaps. The article starts by discussing why income and property taxation, potentially progressive instruments, lacks effectiveness and make the poorest groups contribute proportionally more than the upper classes. It then argues that many forms of real estate and asset properties are not taxed as much as in other countries, which curbs the possibility of reducing social disparities. To end, the study points out some of the major flaws that prevent the system from being effectively redistributive, including issues related to tax waivers, tax evasion, and the difficulties in tackling financial wealth. The conclusion suggests that changes such as updating income tax brackets, increasing taxation on large properties and fortunes, and implementing taxes on financial investments would foster a more equitable society in Brazil.
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    Brazil Colonial Legacy and Growth Patterns
    (Southern Centre for Inequality Studies ISCIS), 2023-07-12) Lena, Lavinas; Domingues, José Maurício; Gonçalves, Guilherme Leite; Cordilha, Ana Carolina; Bedê, Francisco; Bressan, Lucas; Constantino, João Paulo; Rubin, Pedro
    This paper provides a very concise view of the trajectory of Brazil since it became a republic. It goes through the 20th century and into the 21st century to systematize how the different phases of economic development reproduced and reformatted the inequalities inherited from the country´s colonial-slave period. Its objective is to provide a timeline, framed by the structural transformations in the economy and in the political regime, which has shifted between democratic and authoritarian periods, always with a strong role for the State. In addition to characterizing the industrial accumulation pattern of what was dubbed "developmentalism", and the rupture with this pattern caused by the financialization of the economy, in the midst of the democratization process of the country, starting in the mid-1980s, the paper briefly describes how the social question evolved over time and how the oligarchic power structures remained dominant in the state apparatus and in the political system.