Padrões de especialização e saldos comerciais no Brasil

Resumo

This paper approaches the effects of patterns specialization on Brazilian foreign trade between the beginning of eighties and mid-nineties. Given that income-elasticity's may strongly differ among types of sectors and/or outputs in the international economy, national patterns specialization can also play a role with respect the constraints for the competitiveness and trade balance. Sector-specific changes in competitiveness are shown to be observable through the path of index of revealed comparative advantage (RCA's). The results show the pattern of specialization as playing a crucial role in explaining the Brazilian foreign trade along the period.