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...

This study explores the productivity performance of the Brazilian economy between 1970 and 1998. We assess how much of the TFP downfall can be explained by some departures from the standard procedure. We incorporate to the standard measure utilization of capacity, changes in the workweek of...

Using data at firm level this paper studies the behavior of Brazilian firms that exportsa share of its production. The main findings are: only a small fraction of firms sell toforeign countries, most exporting firms sell to few markets, variations in Brazilianexports across destinations...

The paper aims to analyze the optimal level of schooling in the presence of learning-by-doing. To achieve this objective the paper introduces the learning-by-doing hypothesis on the Lucas model of economic growth induced by human capital accumulation. With the new setup, it is possible to show...