Sectoral deindustrialization and long-run stagnation of Brazilian manufacturing

Desindustrialização setorial e estagnação de longo prazo do setor manufatureiro brasileiro

ABSTRACT

In Brazil and elsewhere in the world, diagnoses of deindustrialization are concentrated in aggregate manufacturing, so policies can be ineffective if deindustrialization has a sector-specific component. This study quantifies and analyses deindustrialization for the individualised manufacturing sub-sectors. To do this, unpublished series of the manufacturing sub-sectors’ share in the Brazilian GDP from 1970 to 2016 were created, based on official IBGE data. The results show that the manufacturing sub-sectors have deindustrialised at different intensities and periods of aggregate manufacturing, and a sub-sectoral approach reveals traces ignored by the literature on the quality of deindustrialization. We conclude that the Brazilian deindustrialization is normal (and expected) for the labour-intensive manufacturing sub-sectors, but premature (and undesirable) for the technology-intensive sub-sectors. Therefore, Brazilian deindustrialization has negative consequences for the country’s future scientific and technological development.

KEYWORDS:
Sectoral deindustrialization; industrial development; sectoral heterogeneity; structural change