@article{Mueller_Martine_1997, title={Agricultural modernization, employment and rural exodus in Brazil – the 80’s}, volume={17}, url={https://centrodeeconomiapolitica.org.br/repojs/index.php/journal/article/view/1178}, DOI={10.1590/0101-31571997-0897}, abstractNote={<p>The paper examines the effects of the significant changes in Brazil’s agricultural<br />policy during the 1980s, on the ability of its modem agricultural areas to generate jobs<br />and to retain rural population. This was done by identifying large zones of rapid agricultural<br />expansion and modernization, and observing the changes in the decade, in agricultural<br />employment and in rural population. It was possible to establish that the areas of modem<br />agriculture in the country’s Center-South region, and in the savannas (“cerrados”) of the<br />Center-West, either generated very little employment, or experimented declines in agricultural manpower. Moreover, the rural population of all these areas experimented reductions. In<br />the Center-South the declines were quite substantial but even in the “cerrados” there were<br />significant reductions. Therefore, to the contrary of what one might expect from the changes<br />in agricultural policy brought about by the crises of the 1980s, Brazil’s agriculture continued<br />to expel rural manpower and population. However, in the period this expulsion was more<br />selective, being restricted mainly to de dynamic agricultural areas. In the rest of the country,<br />to the contrary of what took place in the 1970s, rural emigration was either small, or there<br />was retention of population. In fact, this contrasting pattern of migration made it possible<br />an overall abatement in Brazil’s rural migration in the 1980s.</p> <p><strong>JEL Classification:</strong> Q15; R11; O13.</p>}, number={3}, journal={Brazilian Journal of Political Economy}, author={Mueller, Charles C. and Martine, George}, year={1997}, month={Jul.}, pages={407-427} }