November 27th - 29th, 1995
An international conference bringing together political and business leaders with foreign specialists in fiscal control and restructuring in order to develop new policies to deal with the state's fiscal crisis and to reverse the erosion of its public institutions.
Our work on the bankruptcy of São Paulo State is an application of years of research and public debate on the civilizational problem of chronic inflation in Latin America and on kindred issues of managing problems of scale in complex societies. The fruits of our work will not be seen in the immediate result of a three-day conference, but in the tasks for the following months. This cycle of work will continue with specialized seminars and small working groups, which already have begun their meetings, to formulate policy initiatives in critical areas of public activity: public health and security, tax collection, spending controls, infraestructure and organization of public services on a metropolitan scale. Participation of senior state officials in our opening conference facilitates their engagement in seminars and working groups. Our suggestions on how to deal with the state's fiscal difficulties will be debated publicly at a second conference in 1997.