Financing metropolitan areas in Brazil: political, institutional and legal obstacles and emergence of new proposals for improving coordination

Resumen

As of the 1988 Constitution, the states, by means of a constitutional amendment, may establish metropolitan regions in order to integrate the organization, planning and operation of public functions of common interest of the states and their respective municipalities. Despite some attempts to overcome financial troubles through better coordination of public actions — new proposals for dealing with a more constrained financial situation —, difficulties of institutional character and the fragmentation of the available resources did not allow for significant improvements to be made to date. This paper intends to provide a background to understanding the problems of metropolitan financing in Brazil, which is necessary to deal with the obstacles still existing to the improvement of investments financing and service provision.