Article



Dados vol. 56 n. 4 Rio de Janeiro out./dez. 2013

The 2008 financial crisis: government discourses and strategies and pension funds in Brazil

Jardim, Maria Chaves

Abstract

This article focuses on the financial crisis beginning in 2008. Drawing on the work of Lebaron (2010, 2011) and (Grün 2010), the study seeks to grasp the 'cognitive dimension' of the crisis through the discourses produced (and reproduced) by members of the Brazilian government involved in controlling the crisis and by the pension fund sector and its strategies. The method was based on analysis of documents produced by the pension fund sector and the Lula Administration in 2008 and the spinoffs of the discourses and strategies. The text indicates the construction of a discourse emphasizing the importance of state regulation (as opposed to market self-regulation) and the central role of pension funds during the process, since they partially abandoned government bonds and migrated to productive investment, in alliance with the private equity sector, especially in financing construction works under the Growth Acceleration Program.

Keywords: cognitive dimension, financial crisis, discourse production, strategies, pension funds, government

DOI: 10.1590/S0011-52582013000400006

Full text

The 2008 financial crisis: government discourses and strategies and pension funds in Brazil