This work seeks to give a neo-institutionalist interpretation of the events that culminated with the1930 Revolution, which tries to incorporate the insights of the two main currents of the modern new institutional economics: the transaction costs economics and the theory of collective action. The core of the argument is that the Old Republic was not overthrown on that year due economic reasons, as the coincidence of that episode with the beginning of the great world depression of the decade of 1930 has led some scholars to suppose. The main conclusion of the work is that the political conflict that culminated with Washington Luís' deposition and ascension of Getúlio Vargas to the power can be better explained by factors essentially linked to the collective action logic, as suggested mainly by Mancur Olson's works and followers.
The 1930 Revolution; theory of collective action; new institutional economics; social dilemmas; Brazil