THE ECONOMIC POLICY IN THE 1930’S: EVIDENCES OF A CONSCIOUS HETERODOXY

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss some aspects of countercyclical macroeconomic policy to overcome the Great Depression, including the technical choices in response to the crisis, the political and ideological orientation behind the set of macroeconomic policies implemented during the 1930’ years, and finally, the intentionality on handling these policies in order to remodeling the Brazilian economic structure, revealing how these policies were related to new modes of development at that time. Using official data, provided by Ipeadata and Anuário Estatístico do Brasil de 1939/40 – published by Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) – the authors calculated the money multiplier, which values seems to reinforce the hypotheses held by this article, which states that the set of policies implemented in the 1930s years was intentionally designed in a heterodox way not only to rescue the economy, but also to support the political pacts signed during the 1930 Revolution.