A problemática do dimensionamento da informalidade na economia brasileira

Small businesses have frequently been subject of debates in the contexts of economy as well as public policies. On the other hand, the intermingling between these and the informal economy is undeniable. In this context, the current paper aims to present and analyze the different forms of conceptualization and the results obtained in the many attempts of measuring the informal economy in Brazil. It also seeks to evince that there is not well defined dividing line between what is formal and informal; these realities articulate and complement each other in semiformality. Throughout this study, the difficulties in measuring the real size of informal economy become evident. Nonetheless, all of the existing estimates point to a significant participation of this segment in the national economy as a whole. The many existent initiatives in the country that are aimed at decreasing informality are also examined. However, it is clear that, despite the fact that they have achieved a small decrease in the participation of informality in the whole of the economy through the 21st Century, it is still expanding in absolute numbers

Uma reflexão sobre a problemática da baixa produtividade do trabalho na economia brasileira: O desafio das empresas de pequeno porte

Since the threshold of the 21st century, the issue of productivity began to occupy a central role in economic debate. From that point, many studies concerning the Brazilian economy have been made, and the unanimous conclusion was that the country has been unable to increase the average productivity of its economy in order to approaches the ones of central countries of the global economy. The resulting diagnostic is that this is a major hindrance for Brazil to overcome its deep social inequality. This study assumes that the average labor productivity of the national economy is so low mainly due to its structural heterogeneity and tries to identify which strata of its productive structure are those with the lowest productivity and responsible for the reduction in the average. It then goes on to identify, both through the analysis of these strata composition and based in international comparisons, that the segment of micro and small businesses is the main responsible for this phenomenon in the country. From that, it analyses the possible trajectories through which this problem could be overcame and assumes that the elevation of the productivity of these firms, instead of a structural change, would be the best course for a process of inclusive development. It also suggests that this trajectory would be the only one able to establish an economic environment in which the overflow of technical progress is absorbed. Finally, it proposes that development policies - particularly the ones of incentive to innovation - should focus on the improvement and modernization of productive and management processes of small businesses

Financing Innovation in Brazil: the role of the Brazilian Development Bank

This paper presents the role of the National Development Bank (BNDES), the main public development agency in Brazil, in financing technological innovation. The scarcity of financing for innovation has always been considered as a limiters to Brazilian technological development. And, given the characteristics of the innovative process, public funding plays a central role. Therefore, understanding the evolution of the role of the BNDES - one of the largest development banks in the world - in stimulating innovation is essential. Firstly, it presents a historical description of the Bank's activities, followed by a brief description of the measures to support innovation in Brazil over the last two decades. In the third section we discuss the evolution of BNDES as a financing agent for technological development, including the instruments offered by the institution and their reformulations over time. In the fourth section, the profile of innovation expenditures carried out by BNDES, according to their origin (instruments used) and destination (sectors and profile of companies supported), is evaluated. Finally, the fifth section presents the final considerations.The differential of this article is to detail, for the first time, the participation of this relevant Brazilian institution in financing innovation. The analysis has an institutional approach: it does not present an impact analysis, but it allows the reader to understand the changes in the instruments and in the priorities that the institution has assumed in the last decades. This analysis is essential to understand the logic and evolution of the country's largest development institution.

Há endogeneidade no acesso às políticas de desenvolvimento tecnológico e exportador no Brasil?

Este artigo analisa a relação entre três estudos realizados com o objetivo de avaliar políticas públicas selecionadas de apoio à exportação e ao desenvolvimento tecnológico, discutindo como incentivos governamentais podem resultar no apoio a agentes que já realizam as atividades a serem apoiadas. As políticas em questão se referem à promoção às exportações; a incentivos fiscais à pesquisa e desenvolvimento (PD) concedidos no âmbito da Lei do Bem; e à dinâmica das parcerias tecnológicas entre institutos de ciência e tecnologia (ICT) e empresas do setor de informática, desenvolvidas a partir dos créditos oferecidos pelo Fundo Setorial de Tecnologia da Informação (CT-Info). A partir dos resultados dessas três análises, observa-se a identificação de um quadro de endogeneidade decorrente de suas concepções e implementações que impede sua disseminação como veículos de dinamização da economia como um todo

Endogeneity in the access of technological and export policies in Brazil

Este artigo analisa a relação entre três estudos realizados com o objetivo de avaliar políticas públicas selecionadas de apoio à exportação e ao desenvolvimento tecnológico, discutindo como incentivos governamentais podem resultar no apoio a agentes que já realizam as atividades a serem apoiadas. As políticas em questão se referem à promoção às exportações; a incentivos fiscais à pesquisa e desenvolvimento (P&D) concedidos no âmbito da Lei do Bem; e à dinâmica das parcerias tecnológicas entre institutos de ciência e tecnologia (ICT) e empresas do setor de informática, desenvolvidas a partir dos créditos oferecidos pelo Fundo Setorial de Tecnologia da Informação (CT-Info). A partir dos resultados dessas três análises, observa-se a identificação de um quadro de endogeneidade decorrente de suas concepções e implementações que impede sua disseminação como veículos de dinamização da economia como um todo.This paper analyses selected public policies that support exports and technological development. First it analyses selected instruments to promote exports, then the fiscal incentives to support R&D and, at last, the technological partnership between science and technology institutes and enterprises of the computer industry. Finally, it analyses wheter the evaluated policies are able to achieve their objectives

A construção social da informalidade e da semiformalidade no Brasil: Uma proposta para o debate

The current paper starts from the premise that the dynamic of the construction of informality and semiformality in the Brazilian economy cannot be understood simply from facts of economical nature. To these must be added, as codetermining, factors of historical and cultural order. The central hypothesis of this study is that formal and informal economies articulate and complement each other, through semiformality, in a single economic space in which the "Brazilian way of doing things" (jeitinho brasileiro) acts as the instrument responsible for the updating of the elements of said spaces in relation to one another. Thus, informality is not, in the Brazilian case, a necessarily pernicious phenomenon that must be "eradicated" so that the country can reproduce the development trajectories of central nations. It is, on the contrary, a fact of national history and culture, an integral and indissoluble part of its economic order and whose "overcoming" will only be possible from its perfect comprehension, acceptance and, only then, from the conformation of an institutionality, of a regulating apparatus, that comes close to this informality, so that it can be integrated in the rule of law, as it is of the real world

O panorama das políticas públicas federais brasileiras voltadas para as empresas de pequeno porte

The current study consists in an analysis of the set of federal public policies of the Brazilian government aimed at the segment of micro, small and medium enterprises. It is not an evaluation of their impacts, but only a mapping of existent policies and a first analysis of their coverage. This set of policies was divided in four groups. The juridical order, in which the main legal and regulatory instruments that favor small businesses. The institutional structure, in which the governmental apparatus directed specifically at this segment is described. The governmental plans and policies, in which the form of insertion and the treatment given to these firms in the many government plans are explained. And finally, the specific programs and actions, encompassing the diverse instruments that aim to stimulate the segment. The primary conclusion of the study is that there is an abundance of mechanisms in the country regarding the support of small sized businesses, although there is a lack of focus and coordination between them and between the responsible agencies, which turns out to negative impact in their efficacy

Uma análise contextual das políticas públicas voltadas para as empresas de pequeno porte no Brasil

Faced with the extremely heterogeneous reality of small businesses and aware of the different criteria and legal structure, existing in Brazil, to its classification and framework, this paper aims to highlight the need to establish a set of articulated objectives, the target audience and the modality of incentives to be implemented specifically for this segment segment. Therefore, the effectiveness of existing policies and the need to adopt a classification criteria consider the intrassetoriais segment heterogeneities is debated. The study clearly shows the importance of considering the centrality of these firms to national economic development, as well as to take actions aimed at increasing their productivity, considering the proactive role of the state as determinant in this process

A dinâmica inovativa das empresas de pequeno porte no Brasil

This paper analyzes the innovative performance of Brazilian industrial companies according to their size. We obtained the data from the Innovation Survey 2011, published by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). We grouped the companies according to their size: micro and small (between 10 and 99 employees), medium (100-499 employees) and large (500 or more employees). The paper not only analyzed the innovation rates of such groups, but the degree of innovativeness, differences in innovative activities, the degree of cooperation, use of public incentives, among others. In addition, the work carries out a sectoral analysis of the companies, according to the established sizes. Among the main results, it concluded that despite the large firms present innovative rates higher than small ones, innovative efforts of these are proportionally higher, with emphasis on the acquisition of machine, which is associated with the modernization of the production process. Still, small businesses are the main responsible for the introduction of new products in the domestic and world market, accounting for about 3/4 full. Regarding the R&D efforts in low-tech sectors, the distance of SMEs to large firms is significant, while in the more technology-intensive industries, such as pharmaceutical, information technology and electronics, the smaller companies have technological effort higher than that of large companies

A Heterogeneidade Estrutural no Brasil de 1950 a 2009

Lançou-se um primeiro olhar sobre a evolução histórica da produtividade do trabalho, desde o ano de 1950, tendo por objeto os três macrossetores da economia (seção 1). A seguir, na seção 2, o olhar aproximou-se para o nível das atividades econômicas, aqui agrupadas em quartis de produtividade do trabalho. Nesta seção, cujo espectro temporal inicia-se em 2002, foram analisadas tanto a produtividade quanto as características das ocupações (renda, formalização e escolaridade) dos quartis, possibilitando uma visão mais abrangente das estruturas consideradas. Finalmente, na seção 3, a “lupa” repousou sobre as atividades individualizadas, permitindo que a análise da produtividade e das ocupações atingisse um grau mais elevado de detalhamento. À guisa de conclusão, a seção 4 busca apresentar uma consolidação das observações realizadas e uma reflexão sobre seus significados. Por fim, a metodologia utilizada na construção do painel de dados está descrita no apêndice