This paper discusses the role of the state governments in the Brazilian federative system in the post-1988 Federal Constitution period, which is much characterized by cooperative and competitive mechanisms between the Union and the states and among the states themselves. The state governments...

A new state debt cycle occurred mainly through external and contracted credit operations with federal banks from 2008, after a long period with few loans and debt stock fall. It is argued that exogenous macroeconomic factors were essential in the downward trend of the debt in the early 2000s,...