Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/220258 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Paper No. 169
Publisher: 
Institute for Applied Economic Research (ipea), Brasília
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.
JEL: 
Q15
J43
J58
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
433.7 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.