QUATRO DÉCADAS DE CRESCIMENTO ECONÔMICO NO CENTRO-OESTE BRASILEIRO: RECURSOS PÚBLICOS EM AÇÃO

Abstract

This article brings evidence that economic growth performance in Brazilian Center-West region was very successful in the 1960-1996 period, with the per capita GDP rates attaining levels greater than any other region except the North region. The main causes of these growth rates are related to the role of the public sector. It has been the government action on investing in public capital formation, on providing supply of financial credit to private investment and on spending great amount of resources in public expenditures – more than has been done in other regions – that resulted in important changes in the regional productive structure and an accelerated pace in the expansion of per capita income. In fact, our estimates have shown the share of government – in (direct and indirect) investments and expenditures – in the regional economy has exceeded 50% percent since the seventies.