The Distribution of Public Spending on COVID-19 in Brazil: Exploratory Analysis of State Spatial Data

Purpose: investigate the relationship of public spending on combating covid-19 with the number of people infected and deaths in the brazilian states in the period 2020 and 2021. Theoretical framework: approach to the covid19 pandemic and public finance, focusing on its concept and functions. Method: qualitative and quantitative analysis, through bibliographic study, data collection, elaboration and interpretation of dashboards. Results and discussions: there is a perceptible relationship between population numbers and the number of resources spent, so states with larger populations tend to have higher spending. States may have large amounts invested, but have a low per capita expenditure due to their large population, as there may be the opposite, states have a high per capita expenditure even without having made a large expenditure. In addition, states with a larger number of infected people tend to have lower per capita spending even though they have invested a large number of resources. On the other hand, states with a smaller number of infected individuals tend to have higher per capita spending per infected individual. Research implications: the subject matter allows us to better visualize the number of financial resources that each state has made available in the fight against covid-19. Originality/value: the data obtained in this research can be used by public managers as a way to visualize whether the actions taken during this period had an effect on the variables studied, in this case, the number of infected and deaths, besides the comparison with other states that are beyond their administration. This work also opens the possibility of further studies using other variables, to be later compared with the results found during this research.