o O objetivo deste trabalho é verificar quais as características econômicas, demográficas, políticas, fiscais e sociais dos municípios brasileiros que participam de algum tipo de consórcio público intermunicipal. Para tanto, analisa o modelo de regressão probit com dados em cross-section para os 5.565 municípios brasileiros existentes em 2010. Os resultados encontrados mostram evidências empíricas de que os municípios que participam de algum tipo de consórcio público intermunicipal apresentam melhores níveis de renda per capita, taxa de desocupação, IDH e índice de saneamento. O trabalho constata, também, que esses municípios têm nível populacional e receitas tributárias per capita menores e maior capacidade de autofinanciamento. Conclui que as variáveis referentes às características político-partidárias não apresentam significância estatística quando avaliadas sob o âmbito federal. Quanto ao âmbito estadual, elas foram significativas quando incorporadas mais variáveis ao modelo, indicando vinculação partidária entre os municípios participantes e seus governos estaduais.Palavras-chave: Consórcio Público Intermunicipal, Descentralização, Políticas públicas.PUBLIC INTERMUNICIPAL CONSORTIUM: characteristics of the participating municipalities Abstract: The objective of this work is to verify which the economic, demographic, political, fiscal and social characteristics of the municipalities that participating in some kind of public intermunicipal consortium. It was used the probit regression model with data in cross -section for the 5,565 Brazilian municipalities existing in 2010. The results showed empirical evidence that the municipalities that participate in some type of public intermunicipal consortium have better levels of per capita income, unemployment rate, HDI index and inadequate sanitation. It was also found that these municipalities have lower population level and tax revenues per capita and higher cash flows. It concludes that the variables relating to characteristics of political parties were not statistically significant when evaluated on the federal level. As to the state level, they were significant when incorporated more variables to the model, indicating partisan linkage between municipalities and their state governments. Key words: Municipal Public Consortium, Decentralization, Public policies.

This work aims to redesign the large regions of Brazil based on agglomerations of municipalities with similar socioeconomic characteristics. Based on data from the last two censuses, 2000 and 2010, a matrix of 41 socioeconomic variables was selected for each one of the Brazilian municipalities. Then, the size of this matrix was reduced using the principal component analysis (PCA) method. The main components were selected to compose the algorithm of hierarchical agglomeration that defined the municipal clusters. The results of the agglomeration indicated the existence of eleven regions of municipalities for the year 2000 and ten regions for the year 2010, showing that the current political‐administrative map of the regions does not represent the junction of cities that maintain a relation of homogeneity.

The present paper distinguishes how the type of bank that provides loans is related to GDP per capita in Brazilian municipalities between 2007 and 2016. A unique data set allows us to discriminate between the effects of credits operated by either private or public commercial banks, and loans provided by the national development bank BNDES either directly or indirectly through accredited financial institutions. Using the system GMM estimator, we find that credit from public commercial banks has the highest effect on economic growth but it is concentrated in the most populated municipalities. Moreover, indirect BNDES loans show a robust and significantly positive relation to local GDP given that this lending facility especially targets firms in small, credit constrained regions, and it was provided non-cyclically.

The economic literature has discussed the role of public banks regarding their performance as drivers of socioeconomic development, highlighting their social role when compared to private banks. This paper contributes to this discussion and analyzes the impact of the physical presence of public and private commercial banks on the Firjan Index of Municipal Development (FMDI) of Brazilian municipalities. The results of a logit panel model show that public banks have greater impact on the FMDI rather than private banks, taking into account where the municipality is located and the externalities caused by the neighboring municipality. There is great probability of a municipality being in a high level of development if it has the physical presence of commercial public banks.