Bureaucratic autonomy, social embeddedness and public policy in Brazil: The case of CrediAmigo

Abstract

In this article was analyzed the method of CrediAmigo, Microcredit program of Banco do Nordeste (BNB). We aim to identify the organizational factors that make the proposal viable financially and socially. The paper uses two types of data, secondary on the amounts and default operation (provided by BNB), and primary, built in participatory observation about the order process operation, implementation methodology, customer perceptions. The main finding supports the hypothesis of bureaucratic insulation and social embeddedness (Evans). BNB can only make the operation after a long process of learning where a bureaucratic Ad hoc body, unlike the career employees of the Bank, was created, managed by an NGO (Instituto Nordeste Cidadania INEC), founded by BNB itself. The INEC bureaucracy has a listing of training adapted to the social sectors that alive in the informal economy. The results extend the one-sidedness of others assessment that exists on CrediAmigo (FGV). From the sociological point of view, we conclude that the institutional - organizational dimension is a key factor to explain the feasibility of the operation of microcredit. Far beyond the simple idea that organizations only reduce transaction costs, institutions forge and create learning job skills in their employees.

KEYWORDS:
Microcredit; Bureaucratic insulation; Social embeddedness; Social Policy; CrediAmigo