Economic development and stagnation in Brazil (1950–2011)

Labor productivity growth in Brazil, after showing positive annual rates between 1950 and 1979, became stagnant after 1980. We decompose, calculate and analyze statistical evidence on the Brazilian labor productivity growth in the period 1950–2011, according to “structural change” and “within” compo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Structural change and economic dynamics 2020-06, Vol.53, p.1-15
Main Authors: Nassif, André, Morandi, Lucilene, Araújo, Eliane, Feijó, Carmem
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Catching up
Economic development
Labor productivity growth
Structural change
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Summary:Labor productivity growth in Brazil, after showing positive annual rates between 1950 and 1979, became stagnant after 1980. We decompose, calculate and analyze statistical evidence on the Brazilian labor productivity growth in the period 1950–2011, according to “structural change” and “within” components as proposed by McMillan and Rodrik's (2011) methodology. Since it is almost a consensus that the stagnation in the subperiod 1980–1994 is explained by the external debt crisis and chronic inflation rates, we regressed labor productivity growth as well as its two components on several microeconomic and macroeconomic variables in Brazil for the period 1995–2011. The results show that the stagnation of the Brazilian economy in the recent decades is explained by the overvaluation of the Brazilian currency, the reprimarization of the export basket, the low degree of Brazil's trade openness and the high real interest rates prevailing in the period.
ISSN:0954-349X
1873-6017
DOI:10.1016/j.strueco.2020.01.005