The goal of this article is to acquire an understanding of the continuity of macroeconomic policy, from the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration through the Lula government. The article is organized in three parts. In the first one, we provide a succinct description of the macroeconomic policies of Cardoso and Lula administrations. In the second, we present and discuss the debate within specialized literature on the hypothesis of continuity in macroeconomic policy from the one administration to the next. In the third section, we provide a mapping of State leadership within which we emphasize certain aspects that contributed to the continuity between both administrations. Without neglecting consideration of the actions of those who were the ultimate beneficiaries of these politics, we identify three factors that explain the maintenance of macroeconomic policy: i) the structure of Brazilian capitalism and its place within the world economy; ii) the strength of the orthodox ideas disseminated by the media and dominant within the economic team (the Ministry of Internal Revenue and the Brazilian Central Bank) that was recruited from the same "field"; and iii) Worker's Party acceptance of the "rules of the game" of democracy.
macroeconomic policy; continuity; Cardoso administration; Lula administration; Workers' Party; world economic order; State leadership