A centralidade do crédito e o comportamento dos bancos públicos no financiamento da economia

Abstract

This thesis aims to discuss the centrality of credit and the importance of public banks in financing the Brazilian economy. For this work, an analysis of the assets and liabilities dynamic of banks in Brazil is carried out for the period between 1994 and 2018, through data provided by the Central Bank. From a keynesian-minskyian paradigm, the central elements of monetary production economy are recovered and the role of banks is described, as central actors in the provision of credit, contributing to increased demand and, consequently, to the generation of employment and income. Given the inherently speculative behavior of these institutions, which can lead to instability of financial markets and insufficient credit supply, public banks can emerge as fundamental agents to mitigate this process, since the logic of action of these institutions can be distinct from private banks. Besides, through a historic-institutional recovery, progress is made in the characterization of the national financial system between the 1960s and 2010s to analyze the performance of banks and the role of credit in the Brazilian economy, which allows us to observe the existence of a public financing system formed by public banks, public funds and earmarking credit mechanisms that enable the financing of specific sectors in the Brazilian economy. Finally, we analyze the data of the main accounts of the assets and liabilities of Banco do Brasil, BNDES and CAIXA, compared to private banks, to verify that the share of credit over the total asset is higher in public banks, differently from what is the case with private banks, that concentrate their resources on assets of greater liquidity, confirming the hypothesis of this work that public banks are central agents in provided credit to financing the Brazilian economy.