The small brazilian municipalities: viability, social rights and local development

Abstract

There are 5,570 municipalities in Brazil, of which 1,253 have less than 5,000 inhabitants. The Proposed Amendment to the Constitution no. 188/2019 proposes incorporating part of these municipalities into neighboring municipalities with more significant financial capacity; the municipality’s revenue is the second criterion provided for in this legislative instrument. Given this context, this study sought to show that municipalities with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants collect more than the municipalities of the group with a larger population per inhabitant. Even the administrative expenses of these small municipalities are not significantly higher. The social rights of citizens, which are provided for in the Federal Constitution, are more efficiently served in smaller municipalities if the per capita values are considered. For instance, in some of the budgetary functions (e.g., health), the differences in investment volumes are quite high. Additionally, small municipalities act as promoters of development by encouraging economic activities and do so with larger investments, once again using the citizen as a unit. Therefore, it is not appropriate to prejudge and condemn municipalities solely based on the number of inhabitants and the amounts they collect. The municipalities, first and foremost, are proponents and executors of public policies where financial profit cannot be constituted as an evaluation measure.