A LRF No Ceará de 2003 A 2007: O que é bom para o social pode ser mau para o econômico

Abstract

Motivated by the empirical evidence concerning fiscal and social impact of the Law of Fiscal Responsibility (LFR) on the local public administrations in the State of Ceará, this paper contributes to the debate about the enforcement of the Law to limit personnel expenses for a better allocation of public expenditures. An empirical exercise was conducted for testing such a tradeoff. Economic and social variables were designed to investigate the factors that raise the LFR expenditures index. Estimates from panel data models confirm that the achievement of the social investment goals raises the LFR index, as opposed to investments in housing, urbanism and infrastructure. Besides, the results allow to conclude that the larger the municipality tax revenues, the higher the chance the LFR index surpasses its upper limit, consequently, the socio-economic benefit from the public resources that should be provided by this political device is driven for alternative uses that ensure the maintenance of politicians in charge of municipality administration through electoral votes.