Resumo

VALADES, Diego. The Constitutional Function of Economic Regulation. Economía UNAM [online]. 2006, vol.3, n.8, pp.21-38. ISSN 1665-952X.

The statement of many constitutional concepts necessarily has an economic effect. The social benefits the state is mandated to guarantee imply the use of large amounts of resources. This responsibility also had repercussions in the structure and functioning of the governmental apparatus. The unbridled growth of the bureaucracy, the system of political patronage, corruption in the administration and the waste of public resources are some of the negative aspects of the burden of obligations of social benefits that government bodies had. In addition, to comply with these demands, the government frequently went in to debt. Another characteristic of economic regulation as a government prerogative consisted of increasing participation in the production and distribution of goods and services. The state not only satisfied certain of society's needs; it also became the country's biggest employer. This happened because of the investments in infrastructure and the gradual absorption of many private companies to prevent them from closing, thus creating unemployment.