Vol. 27 No. 2 (2007): Apr-Jun / 2007


Vol. 27 No. 2 (2007)

Apr-Jun / 2007
Published March 17, 2020

Article


“Soft” slavery in Brazil: Was Gilberto Freyre right?
Flávio Rabelo Versiani
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

 This article examines the question of the supposedly benign character of Brazilian slavery, in contrast with slavery in North America. In economic analyses of slavery, coercion toward slaves is viewed as a means to achieve maximum output, especially in large-scale agriculture. In small slave holdings, however, coercion was generally inefficient for that purpose, and positive incentives tended to be preferred. It is argued that, as recent evidence on Brazil has shown that small slave holdings prevailed, in various regions and periods, this may lend empirical support to the notion of a relatively benign slavery, using more incentives than coercion.

JEL Classification: N36.


The industrialization of the Brazilian exports regulation between 1964 and 1974 new data and indices for the foreign trade commerce in the period
Jorge Chami Batista, Wilson Calmon Almeida dos Santos
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

This article analyzes the effects on Brazil’s trade indices of the rising share of industrial products in Brazil’s exports in the period from 1964 to 1974. New price and quantity indices of Fisher for Brazil’s exports and imports of industrial and non-industrial goods have been especially constructed for this period, in order to obtain methodologically consistent series of indices from 1964 to 2005. The market-share-constant model was applied to analyze the effects of different groups of products on Brazil’s export revenues between 1964 and 1974.

JEL Classification: F14, O14.


Political economy of preferencial trade agreement the case of bilateral asymmetric negotiation
Daniel Augusto Motta
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the political economy of preferential trade agreements based on a sequential non-cooperative Stackelberg political game between a large economy and a small one, in which the political dispute of rival lobby groups defines the unilateral stance of both governments in the first stage and the Stackelberg “coalition-proof” equilibrium defines t the free trade agreement format in the second stage. Finally, a few modifications in the initial game structure are discussed in order to enhance the small economy’s negotiation power. The political economy model is applied to FTAA case.

JEL Classification: F02, F13, F15.


Kaleckian economic growth models: an analysis
Mário Augusto Bertella
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

The purpose of this article is to survey the main papers that founded a kaleckian approach of the economic growth. It presents a certain moment of the historical evolution of the non-neoclassical macrodynamics. This analysis can be understood under the political economy tradition in putting together social classes (capitalists and workers), distributive conflict and the relationship between distribution and accumulation.

JEL Classification: E12.


Work productivity and structural change in Brazilian mining and manufacturing industries, 1970-2001.
Frederico Rocha
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

Using an indicator of labor productivity, this paper aims to assess the contribution of structural changes in the Brazilian manufacturing and mining industry to productivity growth, during the 1970-2001 period. The paper concludes that: (i) there is no evidence to sustain that the Brazilian industry has definitely reversed the productivity growth rates slowdown trend; (ii) there is no clear evidence of a positive influence of the structural bonus; and (iii) job creation seems to be concentrated in low productivity growth sectors.

JEL Classification: O12; O14; L60.


Cantillon and Sismondi on population, rent and subsistence
Mauricio C. Coutinho
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

The article compares Cantillon’s and Sismondi’s views on population, rent and wage of subsistence, having Malthus’ law of population as a background. We assume that the XVIII and XIX century controversies on population and economic development provide a good framework for a reappraisal of economics in general, including value and distribution. In our perspective, both Cantillon and Sismondi cannot be put under the umbrella of the Ricardian (or Sraffian) approach to wage and distribution.

JEL Classification: B11.


Regulation of network industries: between flexibility and stability.
Alexandre Ditzel Faraco, Diogo R. Coutinho
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

This paper explores the problems of an unstable regulatory regime in network industries and addresses the tension between the necessary flexibility in the long-term regulatory commitment and the need for institutional stability. A draft statute that substantively changes the initial terms under which fixed telecommunications services have been transferred to private companies - currently under discussion in the Brazilian Congress - is presented as an example of that tension. Some alternative proposals to tackle with universal service challenges - the underlying problem behind the mentioned draft statute - are presented in the end.

JEL Classification: L5, L9, K2, K4.


Building-up influence: post-war industrialization in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Eduardo A. Haddad, Geoffrey Hewings, Fernanda Leon, Raul Cristovão dos Santos
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

This article examines the post-War industrialization process in the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais, focusing on one of its desirable outcomes, namely the capacity to generate growth through the impact of strong input-output linkages. This process is placed into historical perspective considering the ideas that permeate the economic development debate throughout the period of analysis. Changes in the regional economic structure are assessed through the use of three input-output tables for the years 1953, 1980 and 1995. By adopting the fields of influence methodology as the analytical core, it is shown that the efforts towards the creation of a more integrated regional economy have generated stronger influence of the targeted sectors (metal products, transportation equipment, chemical, and services). However, structural changes also contributed to strengthen leakage in the system originated in traditional economic activities.

JEL Classification: C67; R58; O18.


State exports in Brazil estimations of price and income elasticities
Ana Cristina Pereira das Neves, Marcos Tadeu Caputi Lélis
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy

This paper analyses the recent performance of Brazilian exports, based on estimations of price and income elasticities of states external sellings. After presenting an overview of the national position, the aim is to check if, by exporting dynamic goods of high value, some of them were able to achieve an external position different from Brazilian’s. Nevertheless, the results, as the ones obtained by other empirical works, indicate that all but one states have inelastic exports with respect to both prices and income.

JEL Classification: C33; F10; E00.