State-owned enterprises between public services and economic activities

This article revisits the trajectory of state-owned enterprises in Brazil to better understand their nature, their mission and the contemporary dilemmas they face. Based on a political economy approach, it provides a critical analysis of the crystal- ized public services versus economic activity dic...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Coutinho, Diogo R., Mesquita, Clarissa Ferreira de Melo, Nasser, Maria Virginia Nabuco do Amaral Mesquita
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:Brasil
Recursos:Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV)
Repositorio:Revista Direito GV
Idioma:portugués
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.periodicos.fgv.br:article/79428
Acesso em linha:https://periodicos.fgv.br/revdireitogv/article/view/79428
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:State-owned enterprises
Political economy
Public services
Economic activity
Law n. 13.303/2016
Empresas estatais
Economia política
Serviços públicos
Atividade econômica
Lei n. 13.303/2016
Descrição
Resumo:This article revisits the trajectory of state-owned enterprises in Brazil to better understand their nature, their mission and the contemporary dilemmas they face. Based on a political economy approach, it provides a critical analysis of the crystal- ized public services versus economic activity dichotomy as a constitutive element of the state-owned enterprises legal regime, and also seeks to investigate whether Law n. 13.303/2016 overcomes such dichotomy, creating at the same time new dilemmas, challenges and “side effects”. It concludes that the Brazilian Supreme Court and the new statute have not adequately reflected changes through which state-owned companies have gone, perpetuating a mismatch between law and the political economy environment. The Supreme Court defers to a consolidated view, not adequately reflecting the “metamorphoses” gone through by the state-owned enterprises. With this respect, Law n. 13.303/2016 has its strengths and weakness- es. It is right by stating that it applies to both entities delivering public services and to those carrying other economic activities. However, since it fails to clearly relin- quish the dichotomy at stake, the path for the Supreme Court to perpetuate its con- solidated case law remains open. Moreover, the new statute it is currently subject of a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality, which may also limit its effectiveness