Territorial inequalities in the funding of education and health policies in Spain and Brazil

Abstract

The article compares the patterns and territorial inequalities in the funding of two social policies that are pillars of the welfare state and present a high degree of territorial decentralization in Spain and Brazil: education and health. The analysis uses specialist literature, national legislation and government documents to describe the policies and their financing mechanisms. Fiscal data are used to analyze subnational government inequalities in the funding of education and health in both countries. The conclusion is that the Spanish experience has significantly leveled spending on health and education between the autonomous communities of common regime, with lower levels of inequality than those observed in Brazilian states and municipalities. The Spanish result derives from an incremental process of improvement of the country’s fiscal federalism, which culminated in a model marked by prioritization and territorial solidarity in the funding of social policies. This model is reference for the analysis and discussion of the Brazilian case, which has configured its fiscal federalism with little concern for reconciling efficiency and equity in the distribution of resources between subnational governments, but which has presented important advances in the reforms of education and health funding.