The Accidental Agro-Power: Constructing Comparative Advantage in Brazil

Hopewell, Kristen

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3758542

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Nevertheless, agriculture is an important component of the Brazilian economy and we aim to be as inclusive as possible in the present analysis. The relative stability of agricultural employment can be explained by the fact that Brazil is among the most productive and competitive agro-exporters worldwide thanks to state-driven innovation, large properties and continuous expansion of its agricultural frontier over the last decades that has made land available for commercial agriculture (Hopewell 2016). Interestingly, back in 1970, Brazil was a net importer of agricultural goods.…”

Section: Employment Changes and Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Skills and employment transitions in Brazil

Adamczyk¹,

Ehrl²,

Monastério³

2022

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This paper analyses employment transitions and workers’ skills in Brazil using a random sample from the universe of formal labour contracts covering the period from 2003 to 2018. We develop a novel procedure to derive a measure of occupational distance and internationally comparable skill measures from occupations’ task descriptions in the country under analysis based on machine learning and natural language processing methods, but without usual ad hoc classifications. Our findings confirm that workers who use non-routine cognitive skills intensively experience the highest employment growth rates and wages. Their labour market exit risk is relatively low, occupational and sectoral changes are least common and, in the case of occupational switching, non-routine cognitive workers tend to find occupations that are higher-paid and closer in terms of their task content. Against the same characteristics, routine and non-routine manual workers are worse off in the labour market. Overall, there have been signs of routine-biased technological change and employment polarization since the 2014 Brazilian economic crisis.

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Section: Employment Changes and Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Skills and employment transitions in Brazil

Adamczyk¹,

Ehrl²,

Monastério³

2022

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“…Shortly after his first election, President Lula announced at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre that his government would attempt to upload the developmentalist/socio-environmentalism compromise to the international level. Both the protection of the agroindustry and biodiversity policies became focal points of the country’s diplomatic efforts (Eimer & Schüren, 2013; Hopewell, 2016). Brazilian decision-makers were well aware that the comparatively high standards of protection for indigenous groups put the country at a disadvantage with other biodiversity-rich countries.…”

Section: Brazil’s Move Towards Green Competitivenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paradoxes of Ratification: The Nagoya Protocol and Brazilian State Transformations

Eimer

Donadelli

2021

The Journal of Environment & Development

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This article explores the paradoxical behaviour of Brazil in relation to its national and international approaches to the regulations of access to genetic resources and benefits sharing with indigenous and other traditional communities. Brazil was one of the leaders in the international negotiations that led to the UN Nagoya Protocol but only ratified it 11 years later, after remarkable transformations of its internal biodiversity laws. We suggest that the seemingly contradictory behaviour has been shaped by the country’s internal political and ideological changes. This transformation goes hand in hand with substantial changes in state–society relations, particularly with regard to the balance of coalitions’ power between indigenous groups and industrial and agrarian elites. The article builds on the literature on state transformations and relies on the Advocacy Coalition Framework to show the importance of considering the impact of national-level politics on the fate of international agreements.

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“…However, government intervention is not necessarily motivated by concerns on food self sufficiency. Brazil successfully moved into the production of temperate agricultural products thanks to the "construction" of comparative advantages promoted by the active intervention of the state backed by lobbies of domestic agribusiness (Hopewell, 2016). Furthermore, the Brazilian government purposefully supported the internationalisation of domestic agri-food firms; for instance, by promoting the merger of two large domestic firms active in the international meat processing sector, Sadia and Perdigão 4 .…”

Section: The Role Of Governmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the two largest South American producer countries, Argentina and Brazil, the success of agribusiness depends on a model characterized by: non-tilling, high-tech agriculture and large scale production (Craviotti, 2016;Hopewell, 2016). Certain authors believed that the replication of this model in other developing countries would imply eviction of peasants and social upheaval since "extreme land concentration" is essential to this model (Hopewell, 2016, p.14).…”

Section: Adopting New Forms Of Investmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The national impact of agriculture is still greater when attention is focused on full agribusiness chains, including food and drink processing, auxiliary industries and R&D services to agriculture. In many developing and CIS countries, there used to be a bias against agriculture in favour of manufacturing; nevertheless, the agribusiness chain today is largely viewed as a potential engine of growth, export revenues, and modernisation of the economy (Hopewell, 2016;Katz, 2016;UNCTAD, 2009). However, the agriculture of many of these countries suffers from underinvestment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The changing geography and organisation of multinational agribusiness

Rama¹

2017

IJMCS

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We review several strands of literature, foreign direct investment (FDI) statistics and web pages of companies in order to understand current changes in the geography and organisation of multinational agribusiness. FDI in agriculture has soared, and multinational enterprises (MNEs) from emerging economies have become major international players, coinciding with the divestment from land of many Western-based MNEs. Much of land-related foreign investment in this sector consists of South-South investment. The liberalisation of land markets has been instrumental in facilitating the rapid expansion of foreign land deals. Paradoxically, corruption and anti-democratic practices have also favoured the swift expansion of foreign investment in agriculture. Agri-food MNEs based in the West have tended to divest from land and adopt new forms of international investment; this has helped them to stay in business in the face of adverse environments. Most agri-food MNEs from emerging economies have expanded, in contrast, through traditional FDI or foreign land leasing. However, several of these companies are implementing networked forms of production organisation, and this strategy is contributing to their rapid internationalisation. Academic and policy implications are discussed.

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The Accidental Agro-Power: Constructing Comparative Advantage in Brazil

Cited by 4 publications

References 65 publications

Skills and employment transitions in Brazil

Skills and employment transitions in Brazil

Paradoxes of Ratification: The Nagoya Protocol and Brazilian State Transformations

The changing geography and organisation of multinational agribusiness

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