Institutional Mechanisms of Federal Regulation and its Results on Education and Health Policies

This article analyzes the federative arrangements defined by institutional reforms implemented in the 1990s, which defined a model of local execution of decentralized policies in Brazil under centrally defined guidelines. These reforms took into account the needs of the expansion of supply and stimulus to decentralization, in addition to defining which mechanisms of redistribution of resources and compatibility between revenue and supply would be more adequate for each policy. Based on the analysis of health and education policies, it was possible to prove the efficiency of federal regulation in garnering the support of municipal governments with: a) the broadening of municipal enrollment in basic education and basic health assistance; and b) the increase of expenditures per capita in municipalities and the reduction of horizontal inequality in the financing of education (Fundef) and health (Lowe Threshold for Basic Care). The measurement was based on the Gini coefficient during the entire duration of each mechanism of regulation (1998 to 2006).

federal regulation; decentralization; education; health; Brazilian municipalities