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The objective of the paper is to analyze the determinants of social policies in Brazilian states. More specifically, it examines public spending in the areas of health and education and explores the possible causes of observed changes in the long run. The theoretical motivation for the paper is based on a literature review that affirms that, at the state level, the executive is unchecked within the political system and that, in addition, the rationale for the creation of public policies is, above all, linked to the individual objectives of the governor. Meanwhile, based on our findings, we discarded invalid hypotheses regarding the non-existence of any positive effect of the ideology of the governor on the level of social spending and regarding the absence of any negative impact of the number of commissions, even in governments controlled by the left, on this spending. [TRANSLATION]

In the appendix of his recent paper, Bracco (2006:511-540) made several comments and misinterpretations regarding the interdisciplinary scientific evidence produced by our team at the Los Ajos site in southeastern Uruguay. Among other things, he claims that we: (a) pushed back the archaeological agenda in Uruguay by twenty years; (b) failed to recognize the previous work of our colleagues in the region; (c) forced our paleoenvironmental data to fit the cultural sequence; and (d) claimed, without evidence, the domestic nature of mounds during the Preceramic Mound Period at the Los Ajos site. In this comment, we respond to Bracco's allegations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]