Technological Regimes in the Brazilian Manufacturing Industry: An Empirical Investigation

The paper aims at assessing technological regimes in the context of the Brazilian manufacturing industry along the 2000-2005 period. The industries were classified in terms of SM-I and SM-II technological regimes by means of multivariate statistical methods based on variable approximating technological opportunity, appropriability, cumulativeness and knowledge base. The evidence indicated some salient classification contrasts with respect to previous evidence for developed countries. In particular, the pharmaceuticals and paper and cellulose sectors in the Brazilian case have some expected specificities. When one consider contrasts between SM-I and SM-II for the totality of firms, one observes discernible differences in the case of two hypotheses: the share of small firms is higher in SM-I industries than in SM-II industries and in SM-I industries, profit rates are lower than in SM-II industries.