| Popis: |
In the beginning of the eighties the Brazilian growth rate of per capita GDP fell abruptly. In this paper we ask if this fall can be ex-plained by the behavior of technological progress (measured by Total Factor Productivity or TFP). Our main conclusion is that the behavior of TFP can fairly describe the dynamics of the Brazilian economy between 1970 and 1998. We divide this period in two sub-periods. In the first, the seventies, per capita GDP grew at 5.05% a year. In contrast with per capita GDP, TFP grew only until 1974, declining in the rest of the decade. After 1974, the growth rate of per capita GDP was sustained by increasing investment sustained by government subsidies that went from 1% to 4% of GDP in the second half of the seventies. In the second sub-period, the eighties and nineties, both TFP and per capita GDP decreased until 1993, increasing thereafter. |
