Brazil
Los bancos de desarrollo en la “era de la liberalización financier”: El caso del BNDES en Brasil
En este artículo se examinan las posibles repercusiones de la política de liberalización financiera en el papel de los bancos de desarrollo y en particular del Banco Nacional de Desarrollo Económico y Social (bndes) como principal financiador del proceso de desarrollo económico brasileño. Se argumenta que si bien la liberalización puede promover el desenvolvimiento financiero este tiende a ocurrir de manera “incompleta” sobre todo ante las necesidades de progreso económico en los países menos desarrollados entre ellos Brasil. El análisis del caso brasileño parece confirmar esta tesis y demuestra que a pesar de la política de liberalización financiera aplicada el bndes no solo preservó sino que amplió su posición relativa en el mercado local durante el período analizado (1990-2006).
Integración regional y diversificación de exportaciones en el Mercosur: El caso de Argentina y Brasil
Se analizan los efectos del comercio argentino con sus socios del Mercosur en dos períodos clave: antes (1997-1998) y después (2005-2006) de las crisis de sus economías. Para examinar la repercusión del comercio en la regionalización de las exportaciones e importaciones de los países miembros se utilizó el índice de orientación regional empleado por Yeats al estudiar estos países para otro período. Se concluye que los resultados alcanzados por Yeats se contradicen con la realidad posterior de Argentina y Brasil a los que el Mercosur permitió mediante procesos de aprendizaje aumentar el comercio con países exteriores al bloque. Este efecto positivo se sintió principalmente en Brasil y no tanto en los demás miembros especialmente Uruguay y Paraguay debido a las asimetrías subyacentes entre las economías de estos países que determinaron que el país más grande sea el principal beneficiado de la integración hasta el presente.
¿Hay despoblación en el Brasil? Relaciones entre crecimiento demográfico, envejecimiento, migración e integración competitiva
La Amazonia Legal y el Cerrado en el contexto de la migración interna en el Brasil en el período 1995-2010
Acceso a la salud sexual y reproductiva y fecundidad de las jóvenes en el Brasil: desigualdades territoriales
Epicentros de emigración: un análisis comparativo de la evolución de sus dinámicas socioeconómicas y demográficas en Colombia y el Brasil
América Latina y el Caribe es una región de origen destino y tránsito de gran dinamismo para la migración internacional. Según la última ronda censal el patrón migratorio de la región presenta algunas continuidades así como cambios en el volumen y la dirección de los flujos y en la composición y características de la población migrante sobre la cual poco sabemos. Este artículo presenta un análisis comparativo de la evolución de las dinámicas socioeconómica y demográfica de la migración internacional en el Eje Cafetero (Colombia) y la microrregión de Governador Valadares (Brasil) los principales centros de emigración de estos países. Se emplea un enfoque cuantitativo que incluye el análisis de los datos censales de emigración internacional de ambos países que han sido poco explorados en la literatura y además se cualifica la complejidad de los procesos migratorios a escala nacional y regional. Los resultados indican que los flujos han variado en sintonía con las dinámicas sociales económicas y políticas regionales nacionales e internacionales.
Public-debt management: The Brazilian experience
This paper analyses public-debt management in Brazil and considers the main recent theoretical models and the possible effect that the strategy adopted by the Treasury from 1999 onwards could have on the base interest rate. The findings show that the public-debt-management strategy adopted by Brazil was based on the recommendations of Calvo and Guidotti (1990). The average maturity of public debt the proportion of shares linked to the Special System of Clearance and Custody (SELIC) and the public-debt-to-GDP ratio all play a significant role in determining the base interest rate. Government efforts to restructure public-debt maturities and reduce the negative effect on the interest rate are key in this regard.
The influence of capital origin on Brazilian foreign trade patterns
This article aims to determine whether the geographical pattern of the external trade of foreign-owned enterprises in Brazil differs from that of domestic enterprises and whether in the case of foreign enterprises the region of origin of their capital is an important factor in determining that pattern both in terms of the origin and destination of their imports and exports and with regard to the technological content of the pattern. The methodology employed was panel analysis applied to a representative set of enterprises using trade data broken down by region for 1989 1997 and 2000.
Brazilian fiscal institutions: The Cardoso reforms, 1995-2002
This paper looks at Brazil’s fiscal policy during the two administrations of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso: 1995-1998 and 1998-2002. It stresses that the authorities’ austere attitude was as important as institutional and structural reform for the fiscal adjustment that followed the 1998-1999 crisis. The principal cause of the fiscal deterioration in 1995-1998 was the reduction in the primary balance rather than the increase in the interest burden while the fiscal adjustment in 1999-2002 was largely due to increased revenues as primary public expenditure by the federal government continued to grow in real terms. We consider the outlook for fiscal sustainability and conclude that to preserve the country’s hard-won fiscal discipline the austere fiscal attitude shown recently by the authorities should be permanently embedded into fiscal institutions.
Employment Challenges and Policy Responses in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico
In this paper we argue that Argentina Brazil and Mexico must focus economic and social policies on creating employment if they want to provide decent work (i.e. formal jobs with social security coverage). During the 1990s financial and trade liberalization and the associated laissez-faire policies did not deliver in terms of growth or employment in the countries under consideration. We assess the macroeconomic trade investment and labour-market policies of the countries during 1990-2004 and then propose a series of recommendations that give employment growth the priority it deserves.
Determinants of technological innovation in Argentina and Brazil
This article analyses and compares the determinants of innovation in Argentina and Brazil countries that have based their industrialization strategies on import substitution. Probit regressions in which instrumental variables are used to check for problems of endogeneity of exports reveal that in both countries knowledge external to firms helps to promote innovation that internal research and development capacity is relatively weak and that external trade integration has a positive effect on firms’ propensity to innovate (more so in Brazil than in Argentina). The results of this study suggest in general that there has been modest progress in the pattern of innovation among Argentine and Brazilian firms in recent years compared with the import substitution period.
La mobilité internationale des étudiants au Bresil
The financial protection impact of the public health system and private insurance in Brazil
This research assesses the effectiveness of the Brazilian public health system and of private insurance in Brazil in providing financial protection in health care. The determinants of catastrophic health expenditures are estimated by probit regressions with Heckman selection adjustment controlling for health-care need. Findings show that the public system provides a significant reduction (47%) in the probability of a household having catastrophic health expenditures and that private insurance makes such expenditures more likely by 36%. Recommendations include improvements in the quantity accessibility quality and reliability of public providers more appropriate provision of drugs by the public system and tighter regulation of private insurance.
The political economy of the developmentalist State in Brazil
The study of the political economy of the crisis of the State and its role in the trajectory of Latin American development is an urgent political task which could also contribute to the historical and theoretical debate about industrial development in late evolving capitalist economies.
The ecopolitics of development in Brazil
How a collectivity deals with nature discloses as much about its internal social relations as the other way around. The present inquiry is a prologue to more detailed study of ecopolitics to the study of the political philosophy of relations between human beings and nature exploring the feasibility of integrating the knowledge of the social and of the natural sciences on the interchange between human activities and the cycles of nature. It is also an introduction to the study of a specific type of public policies those that address issues of resource use and conservation and the quality of life especially in the so-called developing countries.
A pragmatic approach to State intervention: The brazilian case
This article examiaes State intervention in the Brazilian economy in an attempt to elucidate why the State ceased to play a decisive part in the country’s development. The primary explanation lies in the cyclical nature of State intervention. In the beginning intervention tended to be very successful especially when the country was launching its industrialization phase. Gradually however the distortions inherent in intervention without some form of market control began to accumulate leading the State into fiscal crisis. The current neoliberal wave and its success in advocating privatizations can be understood in these terms.
The restructuring of the Brazilian industrial groups between 1980 and 1993
This article analyses the strategies applied by the Brazilian industrial groups during the period 1980-1993: that is to say before the Real Plan was put into effect. After some introductory comments regarding the debate on economic groups hypotheses are presented on the evolution of the Brazilian industrial groups in the 1980s and early 1990s; the main elements in the Brazilian economy which conditioned the restructuring strategies of the groups arc identified and these strategies are categorized on the basis of this analysis and of the hypotheses put forward in the introductory section.
Tariffs and the Plano Real In Brazil
This article analyses the economic rationale of Brazil’s tariff policy during the first two years of the Plano Real. To this end a study is made of the changes made in import duties for all the products traded. The tariff reform process in Brazil was begun in 1988 after the old Tariff Act had been in effect for thirty years and represented a marked intensification in the process of trade openness with the definition of a schedule of gradually decreasing tariffs which was further speeded up as from 1990.
Economic growth and financial development in Brazil: A flexible regression model approach
This paper examines the relationship between economic growth and financial development in Brazil. To this end a data panel is constructed of all the Brazilian states for the period 1995–2014 with appropriate control variables and proxies for economic growth and financial development. The relationship is analysed for five different indicators of financial development with a view to capturing its different aspects. Flexible regression modelling determines the direction of this relationship characterizing it as linear or non-linear for each financial development indicator. It is concluded that the relationship between financial development and economic growth is positive and non-linear.
Youth in Brazil: old assumptions and new approaches
The author examines the situation of young people within the framework of the deep changes that have occurred in Brazil in recent decades. There are three aspects that interest her most. First she addresses employment and in this context the evolution of employment and wages and the effect the crisis has on them. In this regard the most outstanding observation is that the urban economically active population has become younger since the 1970s as a result of the increased rate of young people’s participation contrary to conventional assumptions that modernization will have the opposite effect. Second she examines education and stresses that educational levels in Brazil are lagging well behind the observed economic progress. In fact the proportion of young people with no instruction or only a few years of schooling is very large particularly in rural or relatively less-developed areas such as the North-East. Finally she deals with the family which has been greatly affected by changes in other spheres of society and with young people’s relations with their families which has given rise to a complex interplay of solidarity and conflict.
The rural sector in the socio-economic context of Brazil
In this article the author analyses the evolution of Brazil’s rural sector in recent decades and some of its socio-economic effects both in the countryside and in the towns. Although only Brazil is considered here the processes discussed and their repercussions are found to differing degrees in many other countries of Latin America.
The external crisis, adjustment policies and agricultural development in Brazil
At the end of the 1970s the development style based on accelerated industrial grow th and on modernization and expansion of the exports segment of agriculture was looking very vulnerable. This was borne out by the sharply expansionary economic policy adopted in 1979 which generated faster inflation against a background of an increased trade deficit and a very unfavourable external situation.
An overview of social development in Brazil
This paper analyses the structural characteristics and dynamics of social policies in Brazil. Once the Brazilian model of the Welfare State was consolidated under the authoritarian régime in the 1960s and 1970s its meritocratic-individualist features became more acute owing to the socio-economic base of poverty and social exclusion on which it rested. In dynamic terms this model eventually was reproduced according to some clearly defined principles: extreme political and financial centralization; pronounced institutional fragmentation; lack of user participation in the basic decision-making processes; self-financing of social investment; privatization of the public sphere of resources and decision-making; and the clientelist use of the social apparatus. These principles of reproduction partially explain the system’s current degree of social exclusion as well as its increasingly social-assistance bias.
Notes on microelectronic automation in Brazil
The objective of this work is to evaluate the results of the principal investigations conducted in recent years on the socio-economic implications of microelectronics-based automation in Brazil and in particular the investigations carried out by the author himself.
The competitive challenge for Brazilian industry
This article defines the stages of development reached by industries that account for half of Brazil’s total output and identifies the competitive challenges they face including those associated with the country’s industrial policy. Between 1980 and 1994 Brazilian industry experienced persistent macroeconomic instability as the country’s trade liberalization efforts proceeded. By means of a series of adjustments however the sector did manage to adapt to this hostile environment; in fact it not only survived but actually succeeded in maintaining its ability to help cover the existing deficit meet domestic demand and aid the country in achieving balanced linkages with the external economy.
Education and development in Brazil, 1995-2000
This article analyses the education policies applied in Brazil in the six-year period from 1995 through 2000. After noting the need to prepare citizens and the country to face the twenty-first century it addresses the long-standing lag in Brazilian education and the general characteristics of the educational system of that country. It then describes the educational policy options adopted in the period in question which were aimed primarily at the expanding the system while improving its quality and analyses the special features of the programmes in the field of basic education (understood as the education given from the earliest stages up to the end of secondary education); compensatory programmes aimed at keeping students in school; special education; literacy training plans and the education of young people and adults. Next it looks at the training of teachers secondary and techno-professional training and higher education as well as matters connected with the transparency of information on the educational system and the possibilities of evaluating the system the financing of education and the implementation of the corresponding constitutional rules. The article ends with an analysis of the challenges and prospects of education in Brazil noting that the main challenge is the pursuit of increasingly high levels of quality at all levels of education: an objective which is intimately linked with the upgrading of teachers and the financing of the system.
The impact of public investment on private investment in Brazil, 1947-1990
This article analyses the impact of public investment on private investment. Apart from purely ideological aspects two opposing interpretations may be distinguished with regard to the relationship between these variables. The first is that there is competition between public and private investment so that the former “crowds out” the latter. The second is that public investment is complementary to private investment in so far that by generating positive externalities it creates favourable conditions for the latter. In view of the relative scarcity of empirical studies on this matter this study deals with the case of the Brazilian economy in the period from 1947 to 1990. Its main conclusions are that private investment is indeed crowded out by public investment in the short term but in the long term the cointegration vector coefficients indicate that these two variables complement each other.
Financial openness: The experience of Argentina, Brazil and Mexico
This article seeks to analyse the effects of globalization on the financial systems of Argentina Brazil and Mexico which were the countries that received most of the foreign investment in the region in the 1990s. This capital was mostly made up of portfolio flows and investments in shares traded on the local financial systems. The movement was not homogeneous in all the countries because of their different degrees of openness and differences in macroeconomic policies. In the case of the portfolio investments the effects of the openness were concentrated in different segments and they therefore had different impacts on the financial systems in question. The recent experience of these countries shows that there is still some room for national economic policies to take action in the context of financial globalization even though their capacity to reduce the perverse effects of financial flows is limited. Foreign firms are observed to be assuming growing importance in the countries studied as a function of the degree of openness of the local financial systems. This tendency is due to the liberalization measures adopted in order to make possible capitalization of the banking systems and competition among banks to find new sources of profits and strengthen their position in globalized markets. Although the predominance of foreign companies has given a more solid capital base to the national banking systems it could have an adverse macro- economic impact especially in Mexico and Brazil which still maintain relatively independent monetary policies.
Brazil: Options for the future
This article analyses the present situation and future prospects of Brazil in the light of the globalization process. In the author’s view the market only generates globally coherent decisions in countries with a high degree of social homogeneity. Thus the greater the social heterogeneity of a country the greater the need for a national development policy. Such a policy should link up the concepts of globalization and social profitability on the economic and political level. Globalization furthers the destructuring of production systems in favour of companies that plan their investments on an international scale and promotes the concentration of political power widening of the productivity gap and the destructuring of cultures. Social profitability on the other hand has to do with the priorities of economic decision-making in national political systems and allows the values of the community as a whole to be taken into account. In a country of continental size with great population mobility the danger of disintegration of the national production system makes it hard to subordinate the channeling of investments to the rationale of the transnational corporations. If globalization is an unavoidable technological imperative then the country has little room for taking its own decisions. The author concludes that in these circumstances countries like Brazil with great natural resources and marked social disparities may disintegrate or slither in the direction of fascist-type authoritarian regimes in response to the growing social tensions. In order to escape from this prospect it is necessary to return to the idea of a national project and make the domestic market once again the dynamic centre of the economy. The greatest difficulty is in reversing the tendency towards income concentration which can only be done through a great social mobilization process.
The impact of gender discrimination on poverty in Brazil
This paper analyses the effects of gender discrimination on poverty in Brazil between 1992 and 2001 using data obtained from the National Household Survey. A counterfactual distribution of per capita household income was estimated based on a hypothetical scenario in which the labour market pays equal wages to men and women in accordance with their qualifications. The results show that when gender discrimination is eliminated the percentage of poor persons tends to decline by an average of 10%. Results were even more striking among the most vulnerable segments of the population such as members of households headed by black women who lack a formal employment contract or union membership.
Bank consolidation and credit concentration in Brazil (1995-2004)
Since monetary stabilization in 1994 bank consolidation has been gathering pace in Brazil as part of a global concentration trend following bank deregulation processes. This article analyses the effect of bank concentration on lending in Brazil in the period 1995-2004 distinguishing two stages and estimating panel data for Brazil’s 27 federative units. The results support the hypothesis that the process of consolidation in the Brazilian banking sector has an adverse effect on lending which mainly harms the less developed regions of the country.
Fiscal federalism in Brazil: An overview
Although the states and municipalities that comprise the Brazilian Federation have considerable autonomy in raising their own tax income and spending public funds this is not the outcome of a planned decentralization process. The improvement in fiscal indicators at the subnational-government level since the promulgation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act has made a major contribution to the success of the country’s macroeconomic stabilization policy. Nonetheless the Federation is seen as a major stumbling block for reform of the tax system. As a contribution to the debate on federative balance in the division of fiscal responsibilities this paper makes a diagnostic study of the federative framework and recent institutional changes and proposes a new federative agenda.
Exchange-rate management in Brazil
This paper examines four hypotheses: (i) in Brazil as in other peripheral countries in the post-crisis context a policy choice appears to have been made for a flexible exchange rate within a currency band (“dirty float”); (ii) the underlying reasons for this policy appear to have more to do with pass-through of exchange-rate variations and precautionary demand for reserves than with the maintenance of a competitive real exchange rate; (iii) in the country’s peculiar situation considerable capital mobility is conjoined with large and liquid financial derivatives markets and a reserves build-up policy that carries a high fiscal cost; (iv) until April 2006 reserves accumulated in much the same way under the floating exchange-rate system as they had under the currency band regime; there have been changes since then owing to the rapid growth of reserves.
Productivity, growth and industrial exports in Brazil
Because productivity is a determinant of comparative advantages over the medium and long terms the relationship between productivity industrial growth and exports of manufactures is coming under increasing scrutiny in studies on development and trade policy. This article analyses that relationship in Brazil where the rise in industrial productivity has been slowing since the mid-1970s.
Development pattern and environment in Brazil
After describing the present situation of ecological transition which is one of the factors in the economic institutional and environmental crisis of present-day society the author tries to identify the main features of the industrial and agricultural expansion of Brazil highlighting the socio-environmental impact of the style of development pursued by that country since the war. On the basis of this diagnostic study and especially of the technical background material prepared for (he drafting of the National Report presented by Brazil at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) (Rio de Janeiro June 1992) the author describes the main requirements and components of a sustainable industrial and agricultural development strategy which will permit both proper management of the country’s natural resource endowment and the maintenance of the environmental quality of the Brazilian ecosystem while at the same time ensuring satisfaction of the basic needs of present and future generations.
Transnational corporations and structural changes in industry In Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico
The central focus of this article is on the role played by transnational corporations in the industrial realignment of Argentina Brazil Chile and Mexico between the end of the import substitution stage and the early 1990s. Based on recently published studies dealing with the sweeping changes occurring in Latin America’s manufacturing sector following the region’s economic crisis and liberalization process a computer programme developed by the ECLAC Division of Production Productivity and Management has been used to examine the changes that have taken place in the sector’s production structure (sectoral composition and efficiency) and its linkages with the global economy.
Trade openness and structural change in the Brazilian motor industry
This article aims to classify and analyse the evidence of structural change in the Brazilian motor industry between 1990 and 1996 seeking to relate it with the economic policy measures which had m ost im pact on the sector. The study begins by examining the explosive increase in domestic demand for motor vehicles its determining factors and its main implications especially the achievement of efficient scales of production and the initiation of a wave o f investments which has been further intensified in the last three years.
Brazil: How macroeconomic variables affect consumer confidence
Identifying which macroeconomic variables underlie consumer confidence is an essential step towards implementing sound economic policies. This article contributes to the subject by way of an empirical analysis based on ordinary least squares (ols) generalized method of moments (gmm) and vector autoregression (var) techniques for the case of Brazil. The findings indicate that following a loose fiscal policy which increases public debt and taking measures to increase the volume of lending to the private sector does not represent a good strategy for improving consumer confidence. Moreover the credibility of inflation targeting is a very important driver of consumer expectations. Working to enhance credibility is thus a key step for economies seeking to attain a high level of consumer confidence.
Institutional reform and government coordination in Brazil’s social protection policy
This study now being published posthumously examines Brazil’s recent experience in formulating and implementing government social policies and assesses the prospects for establishing a “social authority” for centralizing and coordinating such policies. It describes the complex pattern of exclusion and vulnerability against which social reforms must be instituted in Brazil. It then goes on to review the social development strategy adopted as part of the Plano Real in 1994 which seeks to restructure the financing outlays and benefits of the social protection system in order to increase its effectiveness coverage and redistributive impact. Finally it analyses the coordination of federal social policies especially at the macropolitical and intergovernmental level drawing special attention to the creation of sectoral chambers and policy integration mechanisms to replace former bureaucratic coordination structures.
An econometric analysis of private-sector investment in Brazil
This article analyses the main determinants of private-sector investment in Brazil during the period 1956-1996 using an empirical model employed in the most recent studies on developing countries. The econometric procedures followed not only take into account the non-stationarity of the data series examined but allow for the possible difficulties involved in treating the conditioning variables as exogenous ones or as policy instruments. The findings –both the longterm equations and the short-term models– reveal the positive impact of the output public investment and financial credit variables and the negative effect of the exchange rate. The results of the weak exogeneity and superexogeneity tests show the importance of credit and public investment as economic policy instruments while obviating Lucas’ critique.
Education and income distribution in urban Brazil, 1976-1996
Despite tremendous macroeconomic instability Brazil’s urban income distributions in 1976 and 1996 appear at first glance deceptively similar. Mean household income per capita was stagnant with a minute accumulated growth of 4.3% over the two decades. The Gini coefficient hovered just above 0.59 in both years and the incidence of poverty (with respect to a poverty line of R$60/month at 1996 prices) was effectively unchanged at 22%. Yet behind this apparent stability a powerful combination of labour market demographic and educational dynamics were at work one effect of which was to generate a substantial increase in extreme urban poverty. Using a micro-simulation-based decomposition methodology which endogenizes labour incomes individual occupational choices and education decisions we show that the distribution of incomes was being affected on the one hand by a decline in average returns to both education and experience and by impoverishing changes in the structure of occupations and labour force participation (all of which tended to increase poverty) and on the other hand by an increase in educational endowments across the distribution and a progressive reduction in dependency ratios (both of which tended to reduce poverty).
Brazil in the 1990s: An economy in transition
The 1990s have been termed “the reform decade” in Brazil because of the significant number of changes which took place in various aspects of that country’s economic and administrative policy. This article aims to systematically set forth the main features of those changes and analyse them in the light of the literature on reforms. It represents an attempt to sum up various studies made on the case of Brazil as part of a regional-level study coordinated by ECLAC. The article finds that in various aspects the results have been in line with those proposed by the literature in question but not everything has turned out as planned or desired. It considers that this disparity of results can be explained by factors ranging from the way the reform process was designed in some cases to the different perceptions by the economic agents of the market signals associated with those changes.
The determinants of recent foreign bank penetration in Brazil
This paper sets out to analyse the determinants of recent foreign bank investments in the Brazilian retail banking market and the strategies of the major European banks in Brazil. Since the recent wave of banking internationalization financial institutions have continued to pursue their existing relationships while seeking greater integration into local markets. The recent influx of European banks into Latin America and Brazil meanwhile has been due to a varied range of factors including bank restructuring in Europe the dynamic of internationalization in the Spanish banking system and the process of market deregulation in the region. The paper also stresses some common and specific features of the major European banks in Brazil. One common feature is that they are large universal banks which have chosen to develop abroad as a business expansion strategy.
The structure and competitiveness of the Brazilian capital goods industry
This article analyses changes in the structure and competitiveness of the Brazilian capital goods industry since the early 1990s and proposes a classification within that industry based on the different industrial segments from which the demand for machinery and equipment derives. Although this industry still accounts for a large share of manufacturing sector value added the production efficiency and international competitiveness of the segments it comprises are quite heterogeneous. The article singles out the segments with the greatest development potential and suggests measures that could be taken in each of them to complement the industrial and technology policy instruments contained in the Production Development Policy officially established in May 2008.
Exchange rate regimes and macroeconomic performance in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico
This paper deals with the ways in which the exchange rate regimes of Argentina Brazil and Mexico shaped the macroeconomic performance of those countries over the period 1994-2003. The purpose of the analysis is to draw lessons for Latin American and other countries on whether and how the choice of the exchange rate regime can help sustained growth. As it is impossible to isolate the growth effect of the exchange rate regime in a comparative country study the paper emphasises those macro variables that have been identified in the theoretical and empirical literature as important channels through which the choice of exchange rate regime affects economic performance namely investment trade openness capital flows and fiscal or institutional rigidities
Regional integration and the labour market: The Brazilian case
Brazil is currently engaged in various trade negotiations. One of the aspects that must be taken into account when appraising these negotiations is their impact on employment. This article estimates the effects on employment of two of the main trade agreements in which Brazil may participate based on the labour content of its trade by the workers? skill level. Brazil is a net exporter of labour especially less skilled labour. Our results show that in the three alternatives considered here—the agreement between MERCOSUR and the European Union; the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the entry in force of both of them? nearly 230000 jobs would be generated representing an increase of 0.4% in Brazilian total employment. In aggregate terms FTAA is the option which would generate more jobs. The workers benefiting most from these agreements would be those with the lowest levels of skills.
Pluriactivity and family farming in Brazil: The case of Rio Grande do Sul
This article analyses the phenomenon of pluriactivity in family farming in the south of Brazil based on a research project funded by the Brazilian National Council for Research and Development. The methodology used compares farms whose families live exclusively from agriculture with those whose social reproduction depends also on non-farm activities or who practise “pluriactivity”. On the question of ownership succession we found that the phenomenon studied here does not alter traditional mechanisms of succession and inheritance on the family farm. The farms that are most under threat are those with the lowest incomes whatever their situation in terms of pluriactivity; but the latter is not necessarily a feature of the economically weakest farms.
Heterogeneidad estructural de la agricultura familiar en el Brasil
Un análisis empírico sobre la capacidad de absorción tecnológica de la industria brasileña
Importancia del sector industrial para el desarrollo de la economía brasileña
En el presente artículo basado en los postulados de Kaldor sobre las fases del desarrollo se concluye que —a pesar de haberse modernizado gracias al proceso de apertura económica—la estructura industrial brasileña muestra una evolución caracterizada por el aumento de la participación en la producción de bienes de bajo contenido tecnológico. La tendencia a la apreciación del real al comienzo de la apertura económica influyó positivamente en la modernización del parque tecnológico brasileño pero su prolongación en los últimos años —en el marco de una elevada liquidez internacional para los países emergentes—pone en peligro la evolución del sector manufacturero nacional. Esta podría sufrir un retroceso tecnológico proceso que según el principio de causalidad circular acumulativa afecta negativamente a la capacidad de encadenamiento del sector industrial con los demás sectores de actividad y acentúa la dependencia externa de la economía a largo plazo.