IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ipe/ipetds/0169.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Labor, Land and Agricultural Credit Policies and Their Adverse Impacts on Poverty in Brazil

Author

Listed:
  • Gervásio Castro de Rezende

Abstract

This paper discusses the question of the concentrated pattern of agricultural development in Brazil, as expressed in the predominance of large-scale production, high level of mechanization and low absorption of non-qualified labor. It is proposed, initially, the existence of two conflicting explanations for this fact: the first, that blames our historical heritage, characterized by the predominance of the latifúndio, with the implication that the solution requires a radical agrarian reform; and the second, that sees in this concentrated pattern of agricultural growth in Brazil a technological determinism, with the implication that lesser concentration in agriculture would imply a loss in economic efficiency. Diverging radically from these two lines of arguments, this paper attributes to the agricultural labor and to the land policies that were instituted in the 1960s, and to the agricultural credit policy, instituted by the same time, the major responsibility for this problem. As argued in the paper, these policies turned unviable in Brazil not only the agricultural temporary labor market, but also family farm, at the same time that stimulated agricultural mechanization and the predominance of large-scale production. The paper ends up proposing, in a manner consistent with the analysis presented, that the only way to initiate the deconcentration of our agricultural growth would be through a radical de-regulation both of agricultural labor and land markets, instituting in Brazil, at last, free contracting, the most basic capitalistic institution. Este trabalho procura discutir a questão do padrão concentrador do desenvolvimento agrícola brasileiro recente, expresso no predomínio da produção em grande escala, no elevado índice de mecanização e na baixa absorção de mão-de-obra não-qualificada. Propõe-se, inicialmente, a existência de duas posições antagônicas que procuram explicar esse fato: uma, que culpa a herança latifundiária de nossa agricultura, com a implicação de que a solução requereria uma reforma agrária radical; e a outra, que vê nisso um determinismo tecnológico, não havendo, assim, possibilidade de atuar sobre esse problema sem incorrer em uma perda em termos de eficiência econômica. Discordando radicalmente dessas duas posições, este trabalho atribui às políticas trabalhista agrícola, fundiária e de crédito agrícola, instituídas na década de 1960, a responsabilidade maior por esse problema. Conforme a análise apresentada, essas políticas inviabilizaram o mercado de trabalho agrícola temporário e a agricultura familiar, ao mesmo tempo em que fomentaram a mecanização agrícola e o predomínio da produção em grande escala. O trabalho termina propondo, de modo consistente com a análise apresentada, que a única maneira de iniciar a desconcentração de nosso crescimento agrícola é através de uma desregulamentação radical dos mercados de trabalho e de aluguel de terra, instituindo, no Brasil, enfim, a livre contratação, a característica maior do capitalismo.

Suggested Citation

  • Gervásio Castro de Rezende, 2015. "Labor, Land and Agricultural Credit Policies and Their Adverse Impacts on Poverty in Brazil," Discussion Papers 0169, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - IPEA.
  • Handle: RePEc:ipe:ipetds:0169
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ipea.gov.br/portal/images/stories/PDFs/TDs/ingles/dp_169.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sanders, John H & Bein, Frederick L, 1976. "Agricultural Development on the Brazilian Frontier: Southern Mato Grosso," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 593-610, April.
    2. Braverman, Avishay & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1982. "Sharecropping and the Interlinking of Agrarian Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(4), pages 695-715, September.
    3. Hildo Meirelles de Souza Filho & Antônio Márcio Buainain & Carolina Junqueira Homem de Mello & José Maria da Silveira & Marcelo M. Magalhães, 2001. "Does community-based self-selection of land reform beneficiares work? An assessment of the Brazilian Cédula da Terra Pilot Program," Economia, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics], vol. 2(1), pages 3-45, January-J.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Haider A. Khan, 2007. "Social Accounting Matrix: A Very Short Introduction for Economic Modeling," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-477, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    2. M. Shahe Emran & Dilip Mookherjee & Forhad Shilpi & M. Helal Uddin, 2021. "Credit Rationing and Pass-Through in Supply Chains: Theory and Evidence from Bangladesh," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 202-236, July.
    3. repec:ilo:ilowps:244121 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Mohamed Belhaj & Renaud Bourl?s & Fr?d?ric Dero?an, 2014. "Risk-Taking and Risk-Sharing Incentives under Moral Hazard," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 58-90, February.
    5. Khanna, Madhulika & Majumdar, Shruti, 2020. "Caste-ing wider nets of credit: A mixed methods analysis of informal lending and caste relations in Bihar," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    6. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 2018. "Pareto efficient taxation and expenditures: Pre- and re-distribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 101-119.
    7. Tharakan, Joe & Lefèvre, Mélanie, 2011. "Intermediaries, transport costs and interlinked transactions," CEPR Discussion Papers 8615, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Wyatt J. Brooks & Joseph P. Kaboski & Illenin O. Kondo & Yao Amber Li & Wei Qian, 2021. "Infrastructure Investment and Labor Monopsony Power," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 69(3), pages 470-504, September.
    9. Annan, Francis, 2020. "Does bundling induce adverse selection in insurance?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    10. Huffman, Wallace E & Just, Richard E, 2004. "Implications of Agency Theory for Optimal Land Tenure Contracts," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(3), pages 617-642, April.
    11. Braverman, Avishay & Guasch, J. Luis, 1989. "Rural credit in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 219, The World Bank.
    12. Conning, Jonathan & Udry, Christopher, 2007. "Rural Financial Markets in Developing Countries," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: Robert Evenson & Prabhu Pingali (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 56, pages 2857-2908, Elsevier.
    13. C.S.C. Sekhar, 2021. "Price or income support to farmers? Policy options and implications," IEG Working Papers 420, Institute of Economic Growth.
    14. repec:phd:pjdevt:jpd_1989_vol__xvi_no_1-a is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1988. "Money, Credit, and Business Fluctuations," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 64(4), pages 307-322, December.
    16. Eric Edmonds, 2007. "Institutional Influences on Human Capital Accumulation: Micro Evidence from Children Vulnerable to Bondage," Working Papers id:1109, eSocialSciences.
    17. Richard Arnott & Joseph Stiglitz, 1986. "The Welfare Economics of Moral Hazard," Working Paper 635, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    18. Gupta, Vivek & Bhandari, Basu D. & Gautam, Tej K., 2016. "Choice of Income Generating Activities by Nepalese Farmers," 2016 Annual Meeting, February 6-9, 2016, San Antonio, Texas 230131, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    19. Bhaduri A., 1986. "Employment and livelihood: the nature of the labour process in the formulation of rural development policy," ILO Working Papers 992441213402676, International Labour Organization.
    20. Ulf von Lilienfeld-Toal & Dilip Mookherjee, 2005. "Bankruptcy Law, Bonded Labor And Inequality," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2005-035, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    21. Julio Peña Torres, 2005. "Informal Markets, Perishability and Vertical Control: Brokerage of Artisanal Landings," ILADES-UAH Working Papers inv165, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business.
    22. Augendra Bhukuth, 2006. "The brokerage system in the brick kiln industry in Tamil Nadu, India," Forum for Social Economics, Springer;The Association for Social Economics, vol. 35(2), pages 55-74, September.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ipe:ipetds:0169. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Fabio Schiavinatto (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ipeaabr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.