A INFLAÇÃO COMO OBSTÁCULO ESTRUTURAL À CONCRETIZAÇÃO DOS DIREITOS FUNDAMENTAIS NO CONTEXTO BRASILEIRO

Abstract

This investigation analyzes how Brazilian expansionary monetary policy, materialized in the inflationary phenomenon, undermines the realization of fundamental rights in the period following the Plano Real. The study departs from the hypothesis that institutional tolerance toward positive and continuous inflation structurally compromises the effectiveness of fundamental rights, particularly in their prestational dimension, disproportionately affecting vulnerable segments of the population. A deductive, descriptive, qualitative, bibliographic, and documentary methodology is adopted, drawing upon constitutional hermeneutics and the balancing of principles. The research examines the theory of fundamental rights and their inviolable core, the inflationary phenomenon from the perspective of the Austrian School of Economics, and the Brazilian normative framework of inflation targeting. It is demonstrated that phenomena such as the Cantillon Effect, regressivity, skimpflation, and shrinkflation operate silently upon purchasing power, materially hollowing out the social rights enshrined in Article 6, the minimum wage guarantee of Article 7(IV), and the fundamental objectives set forth in Article 3 of the Federal Constitution of 1988. The study concludes that expansionary monetary policy, although technically legitimate, produces effects that are materially incompatible with the prohibition of social regression and with human dignity, imposing upon the State a duty to subject the inflation targeting regime to permanent reassessment in light of fundamental rights.