Productive densification and hollowing-out process in the Brazilian manufacturing

Brazilian industrialization by import substitution provided high levels of productive densification, however, these levels reduced after the trade opening. However, the existing studies used sectoral disaggregation that does not allow the identification of productive niches that are densified or hollowed-out among the manufacturing sectors. This work mapped and analyzed, for the first time for Brazil, the degree of productive densification of all 258 industrial classes based on unpublished data obtained from IBGE. Thus, the study identified the more and less densified niches, possible targets of public policies. Results show that the low and middle-low technology classes are still predominantly densified, but half of the high and medium-high technology industrial classes have moderate to high productive rarefaction, and some technological classes are already maquiladoras. It is concluded that the productive hollowing-out process of the more technological industrial classes can delay the Brazilian development, especially in Science, Technology, and Innovation.