Berkeley Program in Law and Economics

PUBLIC POLICIES AND THE DIFFICULTY TO IMPLEMENT SOCIAL RIGHTS IN BRAZIL

Abstract

With the enactment of the Constitution of 1988, the federal entities were given more autonomy and as a consequence, they started to be competent to plan and execute public policies, in order to accomplish social rights. However, the efficacy of these policies depends on the existence of resources, which makes the promotion of all the fundamental rights difficult. Therefore, the government should choose its investments priorities, assessing the budget capacity, since money is not sufficient to provide all the rights. In addition, society should play a more active role in the planning of public policies.