DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE IN THE SOUTHEAST REGION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Abstract

This paper aims to assess the specific structural change in three states in the Southeast - São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais - to contribute to the debate on de-industrialization in Brazil between 1996 and 2013. Therefore, rescues to the empirical-analytic studies of structural change in the Brazilian industry. We used traditional indicators study on de-industrialization to the federal states selected by technological intensity, and contributes to the literature on the subject, using the Deindustrialization Index Relative Regional - DRR, to mitigate the exchange rate variation related issues affecting the reason VTI/VBPI. It was found that there is a process of relative de-industrialization with different impacts on the industrial structure of the analyzed state. Nevertheless, the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais have advanced at different levels, albeit slowly, in a low technology industry to an average low of industry and medium-high technological intensity.