Abstract
Addressing the Real Plan, I research the building of trust in the new currency. I revisit conceptual and historical issues related to trust in money, highlighting: its institutional character; the debate on inertial inflation; and the controversies over the causes of disinflation in Brazil, including among the “architects of the Real.” I enter the causal debate by highlighting three aspects: a pact around liberalism, the adoption of wages as anchor prices, and policies aimed at stabilizing other nominal prices. I argue, against the rational expectations strand, that the Real Plan was considerably an undertaking of “social power,” which took a shortcut by working for more stable class relations. The research was conducted through a bibliographic and documentary survey.
KEYWORDS:
Economic sociology; Real Plan; Inflation; Money/currency; Politics