Sarney PMDB — Cruzado, Bresser, Summer heterodox stabilisation

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Civilian-transition PMDB government that combined Constituent Assembly democratisation with four failed heterodox inflation plans. Five doctrinal pillars: (a) Cruzado Plan (28 February 1986, Decreto-Lei 2.283) — heterodox shock: peg wages and prices, replace cruzeiro with cruzado at 1,000:1, eliminate indexation; inflation fell 15%→zero monthly by March-April 1986; consumption boom; abandoned late 1986 after PMDB's 15 November midterm electoral sweep; hyperinflation returned peaking ~80% monthly by early 1987. (b) Bresser Plan (June 1987) and Summer Plan (15 January 1989, cruzado → cruzado novo at 1,000:1) — successive heterodox attempts, each failing within months. (c) 1988 Constitution (promulgated 5 October 1988) — universalist welfare-state framework (SUS health, social security, earmarked spending, indexation of benefits); civil-rights progress paired with fiscal-rigidity time-bombs. (d) External default stance — February 1987 Moratorium on external interest payments to commercial banks; reversed September 1988. (e) Loss of monetary control — monthly inflation hit 84% in March 1990; 1989 CPI 1,972% annualised. Stated school: CEPAL-structuralist heterodoxy (Bresser, Arida, Lara-Resende, Lopes, Nakano) + PMDB catch-all democratic politics. Left-right: centre to centre-left on 1988 Constitution, mixed on macro. Popularity: Cruzado honeymoon pushed Sarney approval to ~80% mid-1986 — PMDB won 22/23 governorships and massive Congressional majority November 1986 — collapsed to <10% by 1989; banned from 1989 direct elections; Collor won December 1989 runoff 53% vs Lula 47%. Coherence: heterodox-stabilisation-first bet repeatedly failed; 1988 Constitution's institutional achievement survived hyperinflation legacy.