The aim of this study was to test whether political influence comes into play in the approval of loans to State governments by the Brazilian National Senate. Although all the requests for loans submitted to the Senate during the period under study were approved, we demonstrate that the time required for approval depends on the political relationship between the applicant (State Governor) and the Senate members occupying key positions in the review process. Using "survival analysis" technique, we observed that when the State Governor requesting the loan and the Senator reporting on the matter belong to the same party coalition that helped elect the Governor, loans are approved in less time. On the other hand, approval takes longer if the partisan relationship is broken during the loan review process. Finally, we observed that the more loan applications from a single State in the previous six months, the longer the approval time for a new request. This analysis considered all State loan applications reviewed by the Brazilian Senate from 1989 to 2001.
Fiscal Federalism; Senate; States (Survival Analysis); Loan Approval; Public Debt
