Uma Agenda para o Crescimento Econômico e a Redução da Pobreza

This document lays out a long-term public policy agenda for the Brazilian government. This agenda simultaneously focuses on both economic growth and poverty/inequality reduction issues. It explicitly takes into account the need for price stability and macrofiscal sustainability. First, it discusses the long-term challenges and goals of public policies in Brazil and the agenda is summarized. In terms of social policies, the overall aim is to achieve more efficiency by better integrating and focusing government action. The main issues are: income transfer programs, the (limited) role of the minimum wage in reducing poverty and inequality, the Brazilian health system, and the higher education system. Measures to foster economic efficiency and competitiveness are discussed with focus on the regulatory framework, the judiciary reform, and the labor legislation reform. The macroeconomic agenda consists of a twelve-year action plan on the following areas: improvement of the inflation target regime, social security reform and fiscal reform. The behavior of the major macroeconomic variables is simulated up to 2018, conditioned to the adoption of the proposed measures. All background papers are presented at the end of the document.