Determinação e Gestão da Taxa de Juros de Curto Prazo: um resgate da discussão para a economia brasileira no bojo do sistema de metas de inflação

This work has a central focus on the analysis of the determination and use of the interest rate in the conduct of economic policy in Brazil after the adoption of the inflation targeting system, taking into account Keynes's perspective on the issue, as well as some of the main explanations for the behavior of the short-term interest rate in the Brazilian economy in the recent period. Keynes’ criticism of the notion of a natural interest rate and his consequent recommendations for using interest rates in conducting economic policy were the analytical tools used in this paper. The research revealed many different approaches to interest rate determination in Brazil but little consensus on the issue. At the the core of economic policy recommendations from the Keynesian perspective are a preference for quantitative credit regulation and for the use of interest rates to stimulate the level of productive investment in opposition to the system of inflation targeting adopted in Brazil in 1999