Abstract

Over the last 10 years, the Brazilian government has launched several industrial plans to promote innovation and strengthen the competitiveness of the domestic industry. However, the results have been poor due to the distortions created by some instruments inherited from the import substitution age, such as high tariffs on intermediate goods and machinery, local content rules and antidumping protection. This paper highlights the role played by those instruments using two examples: antidumping investigations and a peculiar local content rule that exists only in Brazil, the so-called Basic Productive Process (PPB).

JEL Classification: L52.