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Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

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The central focus is on the testing of the causes and effects of export earnings instability in Brazil, 1953-1983. While Brazil has been included in some cross-sectional studies of fluctuations in export earnings, it has not been the subject of a case study, as is provided here. We test the traditional theory which stipulates that increased diversification of exports will decrease export earnings instability, and that in turn, a decrease in export earnings instability will enhance economic growth. While we do find that export diversification in Brazil did result in lower export earnings instability, the lower export earnings instability did not in turn stimulate economic growth. Our results indicate that the export earnings instability of manufactured goods was positively associated with the growth rate of Brazil's Gross National Product. The results of this case study may prove relevant to other developing countries striving to emulate the Brazilian success in diversifying into manufactured exports.

Research on the labor impact of privatization usually equates the process to other types of restructuring processes, such as downsizing, mergers or acquisitions. It is argued that not unlike other restructuring processes, privatization is likely to generate organizational changes that may lead to major alterations in employment quality. Few studies, however, have investigated the labor effects of privatization and other restructuring processes in a comparative manner, especially in developing countries. The overall purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to the understanding of the labor consequences of privatization in developing countries. This objective is undertaken through an exploration of the association between privatization and other restructuring processes occurring within the Brazilian banking industry and changes in employment quality, i.e., fluctuations in wages, non-wage benefits and job security. The most basic premise guiding this study's comparative framework is that the process of privatization is likely to affect labor in unique ways, that is, generating employment quality changes unlike those occurring at other sectors undergoing alternative restructuring processes. / The sample consists of 476 respondents: employees (survivors) and ex-employees (retrenched) of public, privatized and private banks. Data were collected in 1998 by using a method of triangulation, i.e., surveys and in-depth semi-structured interviews. The principal results for this study confirm that changes in employment quality are more significant for workers associated with the privatized sector when compared to workers affiliated with other sectors of the Brazilian banking industry. Both quantitative and qualitative data for this study suggest that significant transformations in employment quality occurred as a result of privatization. It is further argued that the decline in employment quality after privatization can be conversely understood as a negative commitment on the part of Brazilian employers. This lack of commitment can be ultimately associated with a new developmental model with a particular type of economic orientation and specific form of labor organization based on flexibility.

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