Transformation in the global productive structure, deindustrialization and industrial development in Brazil

ABSTRACT This paper aims to highlight the major changes in the global economy that affect Brazilian industrial development and mark out the strategies that could move the country toward a more robust productive structure. It is argued that the debate on deindustrialization in Brazil, although it had an important contribution to highlight the importance of manufacturing for economic development, did not deep the discussion about the limits and possibilities of Brazilian industrial development. That debate did not adequately consider those changes in the global economy, related to the more fierce global competition scenario and to the changes in the strategies of Transnational Corporations.