Conflitos intragovernamentais e a formação de políticas de preços agrícolas no Brasil

Abstract

The paper examines the apparent paradox of Brazil's long experience in contradictory agricultural price policies: zee find, simultaneously, positive policies (policies providing incentives to farmers), and negative policies (policies which reduce farmers' incentives to produce). It avoids the easy way out of claiming the policy-makers are irrational. It shows, instead, that if we consider the interaction of two sectoral complexes within government - both envolved in agricultural policy formulation and implementation - the apparent paradox can be explained. The paper presents a simplified model taking into account the confrontation between the two sectoral complexes within government, which is employed to analise agricultural price polio-making. It also examines the evolution of the two sectoral groups in Brazil. Emphasis is placed in the minimum prices and in the market intervention policies.