Economic Orthodoxy Versus Social Development? The Dilemmas Facing Brazil's Labour Government

It has often been suggested that the trade-off between equity and efficiency can be overcome by achieving both goals sequentially. This article shows how the government of President Lula has tried to follow this rule, by first emphasizing economic orthodoxy, to be followed by measures to achieve more socio-economic equity. With President Lula's administration in the second half of its mandate, our analysis suggests that such a sequence may be difficult to achieve.