Accumulation of Technological Capabilities and Economic Development: Did Brazil’s Regime of Intellectual Property Rights Matter?

This paper presents an historical analysis of the role of intellectual property rights and the accumulations of technological capabilities in Brazil. The aircraft, pharmaceutical and oil industries are analyzed in detail. While Brazil was then among the pioneers worldwide in recognizing the social value of inventive activities and the importance of protecting and rewarding the work of inventors, both the industrialization of the country and the development of technological capabilities have lagged significantly behind the creation of patent laws. Key reasons for this include the weak incentives for innovation in industries that grew behind the walls of protectionist policies and the second-order significance of IPR in the sectors where the accumulation of technological capabilities was a direct focus of other policy instruments.