Entre o conservadorismo orçamentário e o desenvolvimento regional: Finanças públicas e infraestrutura de transportes em Minas Gerais na primeira república

Abstract

The principal scope of this study is to examine, based on new evidence, the evolution of the public finances of Minas Gerais in the Old Republic, with an emphasis on the role of transportation infrastructure expenditures. Also discussed is the conflict between concern over budgetary equilibrium and development policies. The first section analyzes state revenues and expenses, with emphasis on the classification of the behaviors of these variables over the period and the determination of the main categories that make them up. Also analyzed is the evolution of government funded debt, as well as its correlation with public expenditures. The second section specifically analyzes expenses on transportation infrastructure-in this case, railroads and highways, first by examining the relationship between growth in the railway network and State outlays for interest guarantees, subsidies and loans to railway companies, and then the evolution of expenditures on railways.