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Policy-Making for the Brazilian Amazon*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

H. Jon Rosenbaum  and
William G. Tyler
H. Jon Rosenbaum
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Wellesley College
William G. Tyler
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Florida
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Extract

Long a region seemingly immune to modernization and relegated to governmental neglect, the Brazilian Amazon has nonetheless frequently been the theme of political rhetoric. While the area has stagnated, Brazilians have continually referred to it as the “Land of Promise.” Now, however, it appears that Amazonia is finally to become a major government beneficiary.

An area comprising 42 percent of Brazil's territory but only about three percent of its population, a land often inaccurately portrayed as both a “Green Hell” and a “Green Paradise,” the Amazon recently has been selected by President Garrastazu Médici as the site of a major development effort. Its colonization and economic development have been assigned priority status within the president's “Plan for National Integration.”

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 13 , Issue 3-4 , October 1971 , pp. 416 - 433
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1971

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Footnotes

*

Full research for this article was conducted in Brazil where H. Jon Rosenbaum was a Guest Scholar at the Instituto Brasileiro de Relacóes Internaciaonais, Rio de Janeiro, during the summer of 1970. William G. Tyler was a visiting Professor of Economics at the Brazilian School of Public Administration, Getulio Vargas Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, 1966-1969.

References

1 See Foland, Frances, “A Profile of Amazonia: Its Possibilities for Development” in Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs 13, No. 1 (January 1971): 62–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 Furtado, Celso, The Economic Growth of Brazil (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1965), p. 143 Google Scholar; Prado, Caio Junior, Historia Económica de Brasil (Sao Paulo: Editora Brasiliense, 1965), p. 246.Google Scholar

3 These estimates have been made using national income account data provided by the Getúlio Vargas Foundation and population projections available in Instituto Brasileiro de Geografía e Estatística, Anuario Estatistico, 1969, vol. 30 (Rio de Janeiro: 1969).

4 The $171 figure appears smaller still when we consider that Furtado has estimated the per capita income for all of Brazil in 1900 to be around $224. See Furtado, The Economic Growth of Brazil, p. 164.

5 See Baer, Werner, “Regional Inequality and Economic Growth in Brazil,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, vol. 12, No. 3 (April, 1964)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Robock, Stefan H., Brazil's Developing Northeast: A Study of Regional Planning and Foreign Aid (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1963)Google Scholar; and Hirschman, Albert O., Journeys Toward Progress (New York: The Twentieth Century Fund, 1963), ch. 1.Google Scholar

6 See Myrdal, Gunnar, Economic Theory and Under-Developed Regions (London: Gerald Duckworth, 1957)Google Scholar; Perroux, Francois, “Note Sur La Nation de ‘Pole de Croissance,’” Economic Appliquee, vol. 8, Nos. 1 and 2 (1955)Google Scholar; and Hirschman, Alfred O., The Strategy of Economic Development (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1958)Google Scholar. For an affirmative empirical test of this hypothesis see Williamson, Jeffrey G., “Regional Inequality and the Process of National Development: A Description of the Patterns,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, vol. 13 (1965).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7 Conselho de Desenvolvimento do Nordeste, A Policy for the Development of the Northeast (Rio de Janeiro, 1959), p. 26.Google ScholarPubMed Although this well-known report deals with the Northeast, many of its findings would presumably also hold for the Amazon region.

8 For an analysis of the investment incentive see Hirschman, Albert O., “Desenvolvimento Industrial no Nordeste Brasileiro e o Mecanismo de Crédito Fiscal do Artigo 34/18,” Revista Brasileira de Economía, vol. 21, No. 4 (December 1967).Google Scholar See also Goodman, David, “Industrialization and Regional Economic Development in the Brazilian Northeast,” Jon Rosenbaum, H. and Tyler, William G., editors, Contemporary Brazil: Issues in Economic and Political Development (New York: Praeger Publishers, Inc., scheduled for January, 1972).Google Scholar

9 In more precise economic terms, the project (or a group of projects) having the highest benefit-cost ratio should be the one selected.

10 population estimates have been made from data published in IBGE, Anuario Estatístico, 1969.

11 See, for example, Ministerio do Planejamento e Coordenacáo Geral, Programa Estratégico de Desenvolvimento, 1968-1970, Industrializacjío Brasileira; Diagnóstico e Perspectivas (Rio de Janeiro: January 1969).Google Scholar

12 Part of the lack of confidence in the export promotion approach can be explained by the profound pessimism that many Brasilia policy-makers have concerning protectionism in the developed countries. Two recent bitter confrontations with the United States regarding soluble coffee and cotton textiles have fortified this pessimism.

13 See Gabinete do Ministro Extraordinario para Planejamento e Coordenacáo Económica, Diretrizes Gerais do Govérno: Programa Estratégico de Desenvolvimento (Rio de Janeiro: July 1967).Google Scholar

14 These resolutions are contained in Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco, Integragao da Amazonia (Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Nacional, 1965).

15 Valente, Maury Gurgel, “A Amazonia Brasileira e as Outras Amazonias,” in Problemática da Amazonia (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria-Editóra da Casa do Estudante do Brasil, 1969).Google Scholar

16 Importantly, the tax exemptions include not only any import taxes but indirect domestic taxes as well. This enables foreign imports to undercut the highly taxed Brazilian manufactured goods even if the two are produced at identical costs.

17 Brasil, Ministerio das Transportes, Departamento Nacional de Estradas de Rodagem, Mario Andreazza, Transamazónica, Pronunciamento feito na Cámara dos Deputados en Io de julho de 1970, p. 6.

18 See, for example, the article by Roberto de Oliveira Campos entitled “La Rage de vouloir conclure” in the newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo, 22 Julho, 1970.

19 Brasil, Ministerio do Interior, Superintendencia do Desenvolvimento da Regiao Centro-Oeste, Integracao Nacional, Dezembro/1969, p. 2. Mimeo.

20 Brasil, Ministerio do Interior, Superintendencia do Desenvolvimento da Regiáo Centro-Oeste, Pronunciamento do Exmo. Sr. Ministro de Estado do Interior a Frente de Servigos da BRs 080/158, p. 1. Mimeo.

21 A compendium of General Albuquerque Lima's views on the Amazon is available in General Afonso Augusto de Albuquerque Lima, A Participaiao do Ministerio do Interior no Desenvolvimento e na Ocupacáo da Amazonia (Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa do Exército, 1968), 68p.

22 During the 1930s, for example, some nationalists objected to the settlement of Japanese in the Amazon, and this led to the publication of the following work: Vieira Antovila Rodrigues Mouráo, O perígo amarelo no Amazonia brasileira (Manaus: Se?áo de Publicidade da Interventoria do Estado de Amazonas, 1942), 135 pp.

23 This is implied in Luz, Nicia Vilela, A Amazonia para os Negros Americanos (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Saga, 1968), 188 pp.Google Scholar

24 Pereira, Raimundo Rodrigues, “A última fronteira,” Veja, 14 de outubre, 1970, p. 56.Google Scholar

25 Martelli, Amalia, Amazonia: Nova Dimensáo do Brasil (Petropolis, R. J.: Editora Vozes, Ltda., 1969), p. 132.Google Scholar

26 The Hudson Institute's proposal and criticisms of it are contained in Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, Ano XI, No. 41-42 (marso/junho de 1968). The entire issue of this publication is devoted to the Amazon.

27 Rabelo, Genival, Ocupacao da Amazonia (Rio de Janeiro: Ediles Gernasa, 1968), p. 54.Google Scholar

28 Ibid., pp. 140 and 142.

29 Brasil, Diario do Congresso Nacional (Secáo II), Julho 9, de 1970, p. 2549.

30 In this context it is easy to understand the furor that raged when it was revealed that foreign Protestant missionaries had been dispensing birth control advice and devices in the Amazon.

It should be noted that undocumented accounts in this section were related to the authors in private conversations with Brazilian citizens.

31 An opinion poll conducted in Brazil's most populous state, Sao Paulo, shortly after the announcement of the Amazonian plans of the current government indicated that President Medici's popularity had increased sizably. “Popularidade,” Jornal do Brasil, Julho 23, 1970.

32 Brasil, Diario do Congresso Nacional (Secáo II), Julho 9, 1970, pp. 2548.

33 Minister of Interior Costa Cavalcanti has emphasized that the three principal instruments of national integration are transport, colonization, and irrigation, and that the first phase of the National Integration Plan will include the irrigation of the Northeast's parched farmland. Brasil, Embaixada do Brasil, Washington, Boletim Especial, “Programa de Integracáo Nacional,” No. 153, Agosto 24, 1970.

34 Cavalcanti has also denied that the Amazon roads will pass near the United States Steel concession. Since water transport provides by far the most economic means of transport for iron ore, it is difficult to see any appreciable advantages of the roads for U.S. Steel.

35 “Amazon Highway,” Brazil Herald, 8 August 1970.

36 Campos, O Estado de Sao Paulo, 22 Julho 1970.

37 “Urna nova Brasilia?” O Estado de Sao Paulo, 16 Julho 1970.

38 Minister of Transportation Andrezza has stated that the project has been studied since 1967 by the National Department of Roads (DNER). “Transamazónica garantirá expansáo do Nordeste,” Jornal do Brasil, 27 Julho 1970, p. 28.

39 Front brésilien d'information, Bulletin, No. 13, Septembre 1970.

40 Mota, Orlando, “Transamazónica é comprovacao de nossa maióidade,” O Cruzeiro, 28 Julho 1970, p. 85.Google Scholar

41 Brasil, Diario do Congresso Nacional (Secáo II), Junho 23, 1970, p. 2229. By “revolution” the Senator is presumably referring to the political events transpiring since 1964.

42 Weiner, Myron, “Political Integration and Political Development,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 358 (March 1965): pp. 54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar