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The accidental agro-power: constructing comparative advantage in Brazil

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  • Kristen Hopewell

Abstract

Brazil has emerged as an agro-export powerhouse: from being a net-agricultural importer and food aid recipient as recently as the 1960s and 1970s, it has now become the world’s third largest agricultural exporter, after the US and EU. What is more, Brazil’s new role as a major agricultural trader has provided an important foundation for its enhanced status and influence in global economic governance, as an emerging power and one of the ‘BRICS’. This paper analyses how such a remarkable transformation was brought about. I argue that Brazil’s emergence as an agricultural powerhouse was the result not of its natural factor endowments, but extensive intervention on the part of the Brazilian state that had the effect of constructing a new comparative advantage. This transformation was propelled by state-driven innovation and related policies that opened up massive new areas of the country to agriculture, enabled it to shift to producing goods in direct competition with the world’s dominant agricultural exporters, and generated significant gains in productivity and competitiveness. The irony is that the intention of these policies, initiated in the 1970s, was to foster industrial development in Brazil as part of its import-substitution industrialisation programme, yet they wound up having precisely the opposite effect – transforming Brazil into one of the world’s dominant agricultural powers.

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  • Kristen Hopewell, 2016. "The accidental agro-power: constructing comparative advantage in Brazil," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(6), pages 536-554, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:cnpexx:v:21:y:2016:i:6:p:536-554
    DOI: 10.1080/13563467.2016.1161014
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kimberly Ann Elliott, 2006. "Delivering on Doha: Farm Trade and the Poor," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 3924, January.
    2. Valdes, Constanza, 2006. "Brazil’s Booming Agriculture Faces Obstacles," Amber Waves:The Economics of Food, Farming, Natural Resources, and Rural America, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, pages 1-8, November.
    3. Jagdish N. Bhagwati, 2004. "In Defense of Globalization: It Has a Human Face," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 94(6), pages 9-20, November-.
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    2. Beňo, Michal, 2021. "E-working: Country Versus Culture Dimension," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 13(2), June.
    3. Nendissa, Doppy Roy & Anindita, Ratya & Khoiriyah, Nikmatul & Sa’diyah, Ana Arifatus, 2021. "Consumption and Beef Price Changes on Demand in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 13(2), June.
    4. Látečková, Anna & Trnková, Michaela, 2021. "Cloud Computing in Agricultural Enterprises in Slovakia," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 13(2), June.
    5. Kudryashova, Ekaterina & Casetti, Michele, 2021. "The Internet of Things - the Nearest Future of Viticulture," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 13(2), June.
    6. Darmawan, Dwi Putra & Arisena, Gede Mekse Korri & Utami, Ni Wayan Febriana & Krisnandika, Anak Agung Keswari, 2021. "The Dynamics of the Social Network of Urban Farmers in Subak Sembung Denpasar," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 13(2), June.
    7. Zdráhal, Ivo & Hrabálek, Martin & Kadlec, Petr & Krpec, Oldřich, 2021. "Brazil's Comparative Advantages and Specialization Dynamics in Agri-food Trade," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 13(2), June.
    8. Widarjono, Agus & Mumpuni Ruchba, Sarastri, 2021. "Demand for Meat in Indonesia: Censored AIDS Model," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 13(2), June.
    9. Cima, Elizabeth Giron & Freire da Rocha-Junior, Weimar & Uribe-Opazo, Miguel Angel & Dalposso, Gustavo Henrique, 2021. "Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP): Analysis of Agriculture of the State of Paraná-Brazil," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 13(2), June.

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