This thesis examines the development of the Brazilian informatics industry and its relationship with and role in the international division of labour for informatics. The principal focus of the analysis is the Brazilian national policy for informatics (PNI). The PNI successes and failures at the national and regional level are related to the weak articulations between the Brazilian and the global informatics industry. The evidence for these fragile links are in the regional distribution patterns of the informatics industry throughout the national territory. The thesis differs from previous studies of Brazilian development policies in its assertion that industry and firms have specific sets of social relations which are spatially grounded and these depend on technology, itself socially created. Previous studies however have depended solely upon technological criteria with which to evaluate Brazilian development strategies. Five main points are covered: the organization of the global informatics industry; different forms of state intervention to cope with and secure nations' strategic stakes in this important industry in the AICs and NICs; interactions between this sector and other sectors of the national industry; and regional patterns of this sector's industrial development in the country. The thesis identifies contradictions between Brazilian policies for modernization of the economy as a whole and modernization of the informatics sector. Modernization requires introduction of new technologies (products and processes) which the heavily protected national informatics industry is not yet capable of producing. Current industrial (and therefore also regional) development bottlenecks faced by the Brazilian industry reflects structural rigidities in the nation's social-political structure. The inward-looking character of Brazil's informatics development policies, which are both unique (in national terms) and ambitious (in technological terms), the thesis argues, fails to take into account the global organization, and thus the role of international capital, in the informatics industry. The thesis emphasizes that it was the need to solve economic problems that triggered the Brazilian development process. However, the development of informatics industriesaround the globe cannot be seen as a direct and exclusive cause of capital migration. Brazil, together, with other developing countries, is an integral part of the world system and must take this system into account in order to make the most of its possibilities.

This study analyses the process of regional economic integration in Brazil, a country which, despite enormous progress in industrialisation, urbanisation and modernisation, ranks among the most unequal economies in the world in terms of income distribution, not only among its population but also among its regions. Because of the vastness of the country and also because its regions shared, in most fundamental ways, a common pat tern of development based on the plantations for export and the establishment of huge latifundia for cattle raising - Brazil failed to build an effective system of internal transportation and developed as a sort of archipelago of "economic islands", which had their markets integrated on a national basis only in a recent period of the country's development. Approaching national growth from both a spatial and an historical perspective, this study analyses the conditions of relative isolation of the regional economies before the Second World War, and the remarkable intensification of interregional trade during the 1950s and the following decade. Empirical evidence is mainly provided by four interstate trad matrices, with new sources of information covering the period 1943-1969, a period which represents a turning point in the process of economic integration of the Brazilian regions and the formation of a national, unified market. In the study of regional development, particular emphasis is given to the historical examination of the reasons why integration was a slow and late process in Brazil, identifying the factors which have been responsible for the sluggish development of the domestic market. Finally, the process of market unification in the modern period is analysed, with emphasis on the shifts in the regional division of labour and on the effects of integration on the regional economies. The major conclusions of the study are that the process of industrial concentration in space, the slow formation of a national, integrated market, and the emergence of regional inequalities in Brazil, are the result of two fundamental elements which accompanied the evolution of the national economy: the remarkable continuity of the pattern of land tenure and land use, and the biased form of state intervention in the national territory.

No description available.

Ce travail analyse le poids de l'agrobusiness comme variable explicative du caractère insoutenable de l'inflexion distributive du régime de croissance du Brésil. Il précise son importance dans le mode de régulation par celle qu'il recouvre dans ce qu'on appelle un gouvernement économique du jeu des acteurs. Ce concept définit l'ensemble de dispositifs cherchant à modifier les caractéristiques des acteurs économiques, leurs interactions et leurs relations aux autorités en fonction d'objectifs qui renvoient à une intentionnalité gouvernementale précise en termes sociétaux. Il est montré que se conforme ainsi une gouvernance des acteurs de l'agrobusiness qui assure la reproduction de son pouvoir dans des régulations sectorielles et territoriales. L'étude de cette gouvernance relie son action institutionnelle et organisationnelle à celle de la gouvernementalité en caractérisant le rôle des croyances et modèles théoriques érigés en référentiels de politiques publiques. Cette analyse s'articule en deux parties. Une première révise la littérature sur les limites à la croissance en même temps qu'elle en caractérise l'influence comme référentiel de la politique économique. Une seconde développe une étude de cas de la filière sucre-énergie, l'une des principales de l'agrobusiness. Celle-ci met au jour les changements et les incertitudes du régime économique de fonctionnement de la filière qu'a induits sa gouvernance nouvelle. On conclut que l'intentionnalité distributive du gouvernement économique du Parti des Travailleurs n'a pas donné lieu à une gouvernance correspondante des acteurs d'une ré-industrialisation à l'opposé de l'objectif de croissance des exportations primaires / This work analyzes the weight of agribusiness as an explanatory variable of the unsustainable character of the distributive inflexion of Brazil’s growth regime. It specifies its importance in the mode of regulation by the one it recovers in what we call an economic government of the actors’ game. This concept defines the set of arrangements seeking to modify the features of economic actors, their interaction and their relations to the authorities according to objectives which refer to a precise governmental intentionality in societal terms. It is showed that is established in this way a governance of the agribusiness’ actors which ensures the reproduction of its power in some sectorial and territorial regulations. The study of this governance links its institutional and organizational action to the one of the governmentality by characterizing the role of beliefs and theoretical models established in theoretical references of public policies. This analysis is structured in two parts. A first one revises the literature on the limits to growth simultaneously as it characterizes its influence as reference of the economic policy. A second part develops a case study of the sugar-energy chain, one of the leadings of agribusiness. This one uncovers the changes and the uncertainties of the chain’s economic regime of functioning that induced its new governance. We conclude that the distributive intentionality of the economic government of the Workers’ Party did not give rise to a corresponding governance of actors of a re-industrialization conversely to the objective of growth of primary exports

The aim of my thesis is to investigate the spatial scope of regional economic growth and regional economic development policy in Brazil. First, it reviews the theoretical background on the spatial scope of economic development and growth literature as well as sets this discussion for the Brazilian context. This part forms the basis for the following empirical investigations. Then, the thesis investigates how the determinants of economic growth in Brazil may have manifested themselves differently on various spatial scales during the period of 1991-2000. The analysis suggests a general framework for addressing multiple spatial scales, spatial autocorrelation, spatial heterogeneity and model uncertainty. The robustness tests identified variables that are simultaneously significant on different spatial scales – higher educational and health capital, and better local infrastructure were related to higher rates of economic growth, although their impact on growth may differ across spatial scales. Next, the thesis investigates the extent of spatial autocorrelation effects in the context of regional economic growth at different spatial scales from 1970-2000 using standard panel data models. Among other results, it shows that spatial autocorrelation appears negligible at the state level but shows positive and significant values at the other three spatial scales. Moreover, the panel data models that control for time invariant fixed effects do not completely eliminate the spatial autocorrelation in the residuals at different spatial scales. Finally, the thesis formulates a framework to measure the micro- and macro - impacts of regional development policies in Brazil and applies this framework to measure the impact of northeast regional fund (FNE) industrial loans on employment and labour productivity growth at the micro (firm) level and on GDP per capita growth at macro (municipalities, micro-regions and spatial clusters) levels for the 2000-2003 and 2000-2006 periods. The results show a positive and statistically significant impact of the FNE industrial loans on job creation at the micro level but no significant impacts on the GDP per capita growth at the macro level.

The objective of this case study on economic management in Brazil is to evaluate the scope and nature of political and ideological factors which affected the process of policy formation from the redemocratization of the country in 1945 until the breakdown of the democratic regime in 1964. Special emphasis is attributed to the reconstruction of the decision-making processes behind the formulation and execution of an agreed economic strategy intended to promote fast economic growth in the 1950's and to the analysis of the political and ideological factors which made acute disequilibria and recession unmanageable within the democratic framework, in the early 1960's. In order to account for the achievements and vicissitudes of economic management in Brazil we focus on the role and function of the state as the key agent in the process of rendering compatible the requirements imposed by economic necessity and the political priorities arising out of the structure and dynamics of the Brazilian political system. Special emphasis is given to the political actors located within the decision making system in particular the técnicos of differing political persuasions, their economic ideologies and their patterns of political action. The reconstruction of the process of policy formation in democratic Brazil is designed to contribute to the current debate on economic and non-economic determinants of the emergence of authoritarian regimes in Latin America. An introduction to our own approach to this question is provided in Chapter I, in connection with discussions current in the relevant literature. In Chapters II and III, we provide an historic reconstruction of the process of policy formation during the late 1940's and 1950's in order to show how technical knowledge and expertize were mobilized as political resources at the service of an economic strategy which shaped the present pattern of capital accumulation in Brazil. Chapter IV examines the political and ideological factors which explain the resumption of inflationary governmental behaviour and over-reliance on foreign debt in the expansionary phase of the economic cycle. In Chapters V, VI and VII we seek to account for the unmanageability of acute disequilibria and recession in the early 1960's through an analysis of the institutional framework and the extremely unstable political background within which any proponents of stabilization-cum-growth policies would have to act.

This research undertook a case study in Northeast Brazil to address three inter-related research questions: (i) what factors explain the performance of rural areas combining growth, poverty reduction and social inclusion? (ii) Have coalitions of social actors contributed to progressive outcomes by influencing institutional change? (iii) What are the implications for policy? The investigation contributed to a Latin American research programme on Rural Territorial Dynamics, which undertook 20 studies of rural areas displaying broadly successful outcomes, according to census and household survey data. The Jiquiriçá valley is an agricultural region characterised by family farming, and forms one of 26 clusters of municipalities in Bahia designated as Territórios de Identidade under policies promoting participation in development planning. The study applied geographical and social science concepts of territoriality, social networks, coalitions, and institutional change, to a combined qualitative and quantitative analysis of data gathered from key informants, farming communities, urban traders, and secondary sources. It identified distinct development trajectories in different parts of the valley, explained by geographical variations in natural resources, agrarian structure, agricultural markets and the impacts of public policies. Inclusive prosperity in the valley’s Atlantic Forest region is explained by its concentration of small family farmers, good links with diversified markets, and a rural union movement active within a broader social coalition. This coalition has achieved significant innovation in certain municipalities and led development of a government-assisted territorial forum, although not including private sector actors or more conservative municipalities. Nevertheless, government policies have failed to invest in inclusive economic development,and have overlooked the valley’s socio-spatial diversity. Positive development outcomes in the valley mainly result from growth of agricultural markets and public financial transfers. The conclusion considers broader lessons for rural and territorial development policy and practice, with reference to findings of other investigations in Brazil and Latin America.

No description available.

What are the main macroeconomic factors that help understand economic growth in Brazil since 1870? Are institutions (and changes in institutions) a deep cause of economic growth in Brazil? Are these effects fundamentally and systematically different? Does the intensity and the direction (the sign) of these effects vary over time, in general and, in particular, do they vary with respect to short- versus long-run considerations? This thesis tries to answer these questions focusing on within country over long periods of time. It uses the power-ARCH (PARCH) econometric framework with annual time series from 1870 to 2003. The results suggest that financial development (domestic and international) exhibit the most robust first-order effects on growth and its volatility. Political instability, trade openness and public deficit play important yet secondary roles since the effects of the first two do not extent to the long-run (that is, they are restricted to the short-run) and those off the latter are sensitive to the measures of the variables used in our analysis.

This thesis presents an examination of the importance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for economic growth and examines how sensitive employment in SMEs is to business cycle fluctuations in Brazil. The thesis uses different empirical techniques to investigate the role of SMEs in the Brazilian regional economic growth, using a panel dataset from 1980 to 2004 for 508 Brazilian micro-regions. It first uses standard panel data estimators (OLS, LSDV, system and first differenced GMM) to analyse the (augmented) Solow growth model encompassing the importance of the relative size of the SME sector measured by the share of the SME employment in total formal employment and the level of human capital in SMEs measured by the average years of schooling of SME employees. The results show that the size of the SME sector is not significantly important for regional economic growth, but that human capital embodied in SMEs is more important in this process.