Trade can be an important stimulus to rapid economic growth, although it might not be a desirable strategy for economic and social development. The contribution to development depends on the nature of the export sector, the distribution of its benefits, and the sector’s linkages with the rest of the economy Recently, however, given the focus on globalization issues and the implicit assumption that a region’s economic future is inextricably tied with its ability to compete in the international export market, international trade has attracted the attention of regional analysts as well. In this paper we address some of these issues. An interstate CGE model is implemented to simulate the likely implications of state export growth on the structure of the Brazilian economic interregional system.
regional development; computable general equilibrium; trade
