Taking Portfolios Difference Seriously: A Composite Measure Based on Policy, Office, and Budget in Brazil

Portfolio allocation is the keystone of coalition government analysis. It constitutes the fundamental payoff in coalition formation, providing access to government decision-making. However, are all portfolios the same or have the same weight in government decision-making? This research note presents a measure of portfolio differences based on three dimensions: policy, office, and budget. Factor analysis is used to generate a composite indicator of portfolio importance in Brazil from 1999 to 2014. Results show that portfolios vary significantly in importance in each of the three dimensions, meaning that a ministry of little importance in one dimension can be very important in another. With policy, office, and budget combined, the most important ministry is the Ministry of Finance and the least important is the Ministry of Fishery. This indicator is the first step to summarize the differences between ministries that can be used to inform empirical analysis about coalition formation and governance in Brazil.

内阁部委职位分配是联合政府分析的核心基石。其作为联合政府组建过程中的核心收益，为相关参与方提供了介入政府决策的途径。然而，所有内阁职位是否毫无差别，抑或在政府决策中具备同等权重？本研究简报提出了一套基于政策、职权与预算三个维度的内阁职位差异量化方法。研究采用因子分析法，构建了1999年至2014年巴西内阁职位重要性的综合评价指标。结果显示，内阁职位在三个维度上的重要性均存在显著差异：某一维度上重要性较低的部委，可能在另一维度中拥有极高权重。综合政策、职权与预算三个维度后，权重最高的部委为财政部，权重最低的则为渔业部。该综合指标首次系统性量化了巴西各部委间的差异，可为后续针对巴西联合政府组建与治理的实证研究提供分析支撑。