Fiscal policy in the context of financialization: insufficient theory and inadequate indicators

Abstract The paper queries the conception of fiscal policy in mainstream macroeconomics. The critics focus on the insufficiency of this approach to capture the relations established between the state and financialized capitalism and on the inadequacy of the indicators used to assess fiscal policy. In a pattern of capital accumulation in which the asset management and the financial wealth valuation overcome economic flows, fiscal policy, far beyond dealing with tax collection and real spending, must manage the financial stocks and their yields. Using the Brazilian economy as the case study, the paper shows that the financial and patrimonial management of the federal state is compelled to have greater impacts on fiscal balance than those related to public spending and collection. In a sense, the chosen fiscal indicators do not express the real dynamics of fiscal accounts and their impacts on the economy.

摘要 本文对主流宏观经济学中的财政政策概念提出质疑。相关批判主要聚焦于两点：一是该范式无法准确刻画国家与金融化资本主义之间的互动关系，二是其用于评估财政政策的指标体系存在缺陷。在资产管理与金融财富估值超越经济流量的资本积累模式下，财政政策早已超出税收征管与实际支出的范畴，还需对金融存量及其收益率进行管理。本文以巴西经济为案例研究对象，结果表明：联邦政府的金融与国有资产管理活动，对财政平衡的影响显著大于公共支出与税收征管相关活动带来的影响。从某种意义而言，现行选用的财政指标无法反映财政账户的真实运行态势及其对经济的影响。