RESUMO A 2ª Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional (2nd LDB), promulgada em 1971, mudou a configuração dos níveis de ensino no Brasil. Essa mudança tornou difícil a construção de uma base de dados confiável para o século XX. Trabalhos anteriores sobre a história econômica da educação no Brasil utilizaram dados da dissertação de Maduro (2007). Wjuniski (2013) usou essa base de dados e realizou testes de quebra estrutural. Ele concluiu que o governo brasileiro investiu pouco na expansão do ensino secundário. Entretanto, Wjuniski não considerou alguns problemas como: (i) a confiabilidade dos dados e (ii) os efeitos da 2a LDB nos dados de despesa em educação. Este artigo mostra que os dados de gasto educacional no Brasil não nos permitem afirmar que houve uma queda nos gastos com o ensino secundário com a mudança da lei após 1971.

ABSTRACT The Second National Education Regulatory Framework (2nd LDB), enacted in 1971, changed the grade configuration of schooling levels in Brazil. This change made it challenging to construct a valid and reliable education spending data profile for 20th century Brazil. Previous work on the economic history of education in Brazil used the data provided according to the thesis of Maduro (2007). Wjuniski (2013) used that database and ran structural break tests and concluded that the Brazilian government underinvested in the expansion of secondary education. However, Wjuniski did not consider problems concerning: (i) data reliability and (ii) the effects of the 2nd LDB on education expenditure data. This paper shows that data on education spending in Brazil does not allow us to assert that there was an underinvestment in secondary education from 1971 onwards.

This article aims to present an overview of Amartya Sen's thought, relating to his writings on political philosophy and his contributions to the field of development economics. This paper shows how justice and development are highly related in Sen's approach based on the concept of capability. Along with this paper, we will present some debates between Sen and John Rawls, beside other critics. This is done to explain the complex theoretical system elaborated by him. In concluding, the paper shows that the objective of Sen is to find a satisfactory concept of development that is explicit in its ethical presumptions.

Entre 1930 e 1964, um período de rápido crescimento econômico no Brasil, a expansão do ensino primário foi muito aquém do suficiente para superar o relativo atraso educacional. Este artigo sustenta não apenas que houve pouco interesse dos governos, como também que a estrutura administrativa e de financiamento da educação primária foi também responsável pela manutenção do atraso. A administração do ensino primário era de responsabilidade estadual, mas o governo federal, que detinha grande parte da receita tributária, não financiava adequadamente os estados. A comparação com o caso dos Estados Unidos parece apoiar as conclusões desse trabalho.

From 1930 to 1964, when the Brazilian economy was growing rapidly, the expansion of primary schooling was far from sufficient to overcome the Brazilian comparative educational backwardness. This paper shows that not only there was little interest of governments in expanding schools, but also that administrative and financial structures of primary schooling were responsible for sustaining that backwardness. State governments were responsible for the administration of primary schools, but did not have enough financial resources. The federal government, which had a huge part of the tax revenues, did not transfer enough financial resources to the states. Comparing the Brazilian case to that of the United States seems to support our conclusions.