Sraffian supermultiplier models (SSM) try to identify autonomous components of demand. The most plausible candidate is government consumption. Descriptively, however, government consumption does not grow at a constant rate, and prescriptively there is no justification for keeping constant the growth rate of government consumption, irrespective of economic performance. An active fiscal policy guided by principles of functional finance can produce more powerful stabilization, avoid overheating and excessive utilization rates, and secure faster adjustments of the growth rate towards its target level.
RESUMO Este trabalho tem como objetivo avançar no debate em torno da Lei de Thirlwall Multissetorial, incluindo os fluxos de capitais setoriais e suas implicações para a nova estratégia de crescimento da economia brasileira, que visa estimular as exportações por meio da diversificação dos produtos, da agregação de valor e do aumento da intensidade tecnológica das exportações brasileiras. Para tanto, desenvolve-se um modelo multissetorial com fluxos de capitais setoriais e, na sequência, realizam-se algumas simulações computacionais considerando os principais setores e parceiros econômicos do país (China, Estados Unidos e Bloco Europeu). os resultados sugerem que a melhor estratégia seria estimular os setores específicos, ou seja, ampliar a participação dos setores nos quais o país possua maior vantagem comparativa em relação a cada um dos seus parceiros comerciais (Manufaturados - EUA, Semimanufaturados - Europa, Básicos - China). Não obstante o resultado obtido na simulação, nos moldes do modelo proposto por Hausmann et al. (2004), pode gerar a aceleração do crescimento econômico. Assim, o Plano Nacional de Exportações (2015-2018) deve dar preferência à ampliação de incentivos a setores que apresentem elevadas razões das elasticidades no sentido de Thirlwall.
ABSTRACT This paper aims to present the recent debate about Sraffian Supermultiplier Model (SSM), that gained notoriety in the academic environment after the controversy between Peter Skott (2016) and Marc Lavoie (2016, 2017) on the specification of the investment function of the Neo-Kaleckian models of income growth and distribution. Lavoie used the SSM model as an attempt to rescue the Neo-Kaleckians models of the devastating criticism made by Peter Skott (2010) regarding the specification of the investment function. In this context, we will not only argue that this rescue operation was not successful, but we will also question the capacity of SSM models to serve as an "alternative closure" for heterodox models of income growth and distribution, due to three fundamental shortcomings of the SSM approach, which are: (i) the hypothesis that the normal degree of utilization of the productive capacity is an exogenous variable, (ii) that investment in capacity expansion is totally endogenous; and (iii) the applicability of this approach out of a closed economy framework. We will also argue that the Kaldorian models of growth, which are one of the theoretical foundations of the so-called Developmentalist Macroeconomics, and stock-flow consistent models (SFC) seem to be much more promising alternatives for the development of heterodox theories of growth and income distribution.
