View of downtown Sao Paulo from the Santana district, with several factories in the foreground. Sao Paulo is the industrial capital of Brazil and is responsible for nearly 40% of the industrial output (over 50% on a state level). Brazilian industry has boomed since World War II, especially...

A welder at an auto parts plant in Sao Paulo. During the 1950s and 1960s, Brazil undertook a large scale import substitution economic program, as it tried to replace imports with domestic production. Large amounts of foreign direct investment accelerated industrialization. The car industry, for...