Partisan Goals and Electoral Interests: Brazilian Economic Reforms under Lula

Almost everyone was surprised by the reforms proposed by the Lula administration in Brazil. Once in power, they proposed reforms they voted against when in opposition. We analyze a game in which political parties, with partisan and electoral interest, try to approve reforms that benefit the majority of population but face an opposition with substantial power to determine their fate. The Opposition’s behavior may lead to different equilibrium: approval of the reform after an electoral cycle, with the party initially against the reform making it their own; not approval, with the parties taking turn in power; not approval, with the party that originally proposed the reform remaining in power, but with the deterioration of the economic situationEconomic Reforms, Electoral Interest, Partisan Interest