Giuliano SiderAug 5th 2011 6:06 GMT
Although Brazil's economy, as a whole, does not depend so much on commodities for export, what would be the impact of major Asian/Chinese slowdown? Maybe it wouldn't be that bad - the Real would depreciate and the current account wouldn't even be a problem. But maybe the commodity-related supply chains run deeper than we think. Who would have thought the Japanese earthquake/tsunami would deal so much damage to global supply chains?Also, the commodity sector provides limited employment. It's one of the elements on which you can base your economy - having a comparative advantage in agriculture is wonderful. But it's only one pillar of a successful economy. Commodities are a blessing to Australia's economy, but it wouldn't be a developed nation if it weren't for a robust service sector. And they are a nation of 22 million, vs. Brazil's 193.But, I think, in the end, Brazil has a more diversified economy than people think. It's neither too dependent on commodities and "deindustrialized", but nor is it one of the great "workshops of the world" either. China, the US, the EU, and Argentina each account for around 10% of Brazil's trade. The threat of deindustrialization does exist, though, in two ways:1. Short term capital inflows, coupled with strong commodity exports and weakness in developed economies all drive the currency near historic highs. Ultra loose policy by the Fed, and China's undervalued Yuan peg exacerbate the matter.2. Long term problem: competitiveness. The commodity sector is super-competitive. Brazilian iron ore kicks ass. Most other sectors are not. This can only be addressed with structural reforms: responsible tax system, gradual decline of the "pornographic" interest rates (thanks for the image, Maluf), allocation of funds to badly needed infrastructure projects, tackling corruption, and the big one - the one that determines how developed a society is - education.Production of knowledge reinforces comparative advantages, and creates new ones. Example: Embrapa and the government's investment in basic research has spearheaded an Agricultural Revolution in the Cerrado states. Standing ovation. Investment in scientists and engineers at ITA creates a world-class aircraft company. Wow! The inexperienced might look at Brazil and think we would produce *****ty airplanes looking at fiascos like the Gol and Tam accidents in the past.The bottom line is: payroll tax cuts and "industrial policy" are not necessarily a bad idea, especially in a year when industry is feeling the pinch of the "currency war." But please, don't overdo it. Extending more privileges to privileged sectors is not a good idea. But this is hard earned taxpayers' money. Don't think we can't see all those subsidies in BNDES' balance sheet. Well, as a matter of fact, most Brazilians don't see it. We have a longstanding history of murky relations between the big business and big government. We don't have enough Embrapas and Embraers to show for it. We don't have a culture of accountability with our public money. The result is the State (with a Capital S), along with its generous extended family of "agregados" and rent-seekers, crowding out the private sector. Add to that the low rate of household savings, and we have the ingredients for a terrible recipe: the highest, most "exorbitant" (thanks Fiesp) real interest rates in the world.The great Mr. Aloisio Mercadante, PhD, Minister for Science and Technology, author of an economics PhD thesis reeking of election pamphleteering (thanks Unicamp!), has taken note of Embrapa's solid success and (after probably taking credit for it in the process) suggested the creation of an "industrial Embrapa." A nice a panacea for our industry's competitiveness issues - it's like making a general purpose "vaccine" for cancer. In the vision of our Unicamp economists, the Industrial Embrapa already exists, and has an acronym of its own: BNDES.To insinuate that the National Development Bank is the Brazilian Gosplan or Politburo is probably going too far... what about successful examples like Japan's MITI or China's National Development and Reform Commission? Well, in those cases, there are many other factors at play. The 2008 recession shows that there is an important role for state development banks. While private lenders were retrenching and reducing their balance sheets, state-owned lenders countered the credit crunch more bravely, more decisively and more quickly than those in America and Europe. And in Brazil, where the market for long term lending is, well, it doesn't exist, the BNDES is the only real option besides selling equity or resorting to the Mafia, or a loan shark.But these funds come with a cost... to the rest of us. If the BNDES steps in decisively during emergencies, as it did in 2008, fine. If it funds tech startups, great. If it comes up with innovative financing solutions for building schools, funding teachers' salaries, underwriting water/sewer bonds... excellent.
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尽管巴西经济,作为一个整体,不是那么依赖于大宗商品出口,但如果来自亚洲/中国的大部分进口减缓会怎么样?也许那不是那么糟——雷亚尔会贬值同时经常账户不再是一个问题。但也许大宗商品相关的供应链比我们想的要更重要。谁会想到日本的地震/海啸会对全球供应链造成如此大的损害呢?
同时,原材料部门提供了有限的就业岗位。这是你可以以之为经济的基础的要素之一——在农业上有比较优势是很棒的的事。但它只是一个成功经济体的一个方面。原材料产业是上天对澳大利亚经济的庇佑,但如果没有稳健的服务业,他也不能成为一个发达国家。而且他们是一个只有2200万人口的国家VS巴西有1亿9300万。
但是,我认为,最终,巴西有一个比人们认为的更多样化的经济。它即没有太过依赖原材料行业而“去工业化”了,也没有成为“世界工厂”之一。中国、美国、欧盟、阿根廷各自在巴西的对外贸易中占10%左右的份额。当然,去工业化的威胁是存在的,在以下两个方面:
1、 短期资本流入,伴随着强劲的大宗商品出口和发达经济体的低迷,都推动着汇率接近历史高位。美联储的超宽松货币政策,以及中国被低估的人民币管制汇率都加剧了这一情况。
2、 长期问题:竞争力。大宗商品行业是超有竞争力的。巴西铁矿石太他喵的厉害了(译者注:原文居然是kicks ass)。大部分其他部门则不是这样的。这只能通过体制改革来解决——负责任的税收体系,逐步降低“淫秽”的利率(谢谢你的想象,马卢夫),配置资金到极度需要的基础设施项目,打击腐败,还有个大家伙——一个决定了一个社会发展程度的东西——教育。
(译者注:关于Maluf,我只搜到了一个叫Eduardo Maluf Miguel的,艾德瓦多·马卢夫·米格尔。他是一名巴西圣保罗报的记者,关于他有一则有趣的新闻
http://www.cntcmvideo.com/zgzyyb ... 8/content_11562.htm)
知识的生产强化了竞争优势,并创造了新的竞争优势。例如:Embrapa(巴西农业研究公司/机构)和ZF在基础研究上的投资引领了塞拉多州的农业革命。起立鼓掌。ITA(巴西航空理工学院)在科学家和工程师上的投资创造了世界级的飞机制造企业。哇哦!那些不经事的或许在看着巴西,并且认为我们会制造劣等的飞机,看看过去像GOL和TAM发生的空难之类的惨败吧。
(译者注:GOL和TAM为巴西戈尔航空公司和塔姆航空公司,二者分别在2006年和2007年发生了巴西航空史上最严重的两起空难。)
底线是:薪资税减免和“工业政策”不必然是坏主意,尤其是在工业感受着“汇率战争”困苦的这一年。但是请,千万别做过头了。给特权行业以更多的特权不是个好主意。这是纳税人辛辛苦苦挣得的钱,不要以为我们不能从巴西国家发展银行的资产负债表中看出那些津贴。好吧,事实上,大多数巴西人的确是没有意识到。我们有长期的历史中,大ZF与大商业集团有着黑暗隐晦的关系。我们没有足够多的巴西农业研究公司和巴西航空工业集团们来展示它。我们没有一种对我们的公共资金要负责的文化。结果就是国家(以S为首字母),连同大肆扩展的“集合体”和寻租者家族,正在排挤出私人部门。在较低居民储蓄率上,我们有一份糟糕处方的配料:世界上最高的,最“过分的”(感谢Fiesp)实际利率。
伟大的阿洛伊兹奥·梅尔卡丹特博士,科技部长,在经济学位毕业论文中都散发选举小册子的作者(感谢巴西金边大学!),最近注意到了巴西航空工业集团稳健的成功并且(可能在这一过程中得到好评之后)建议创立一种“巴航工业”。一剂很好的针对我们贸竞争力难题的万灵药——就好比想发明一种包治所有癌症的“疫苗”一样。在我们金边大学经济学家的想象力,“巴航工业”基本上已经存在了,并且有着自己的简称:BNDES(巴西国家经济社会发展银行)。
如果暗示国家发展银行是巴西的计划经济委员会或是政治局就扯得有点远了...那成功的例子比如日本的通产省或是中国的发改委怎么样?当然,在这些案例中,有许多其他的因素在运作。2008年的经济衰退显示国家发展银行有着一个重要的地位。当私人贷款者紧缩开支并减少其资产负债表时,(巴西的)国有贷款者面对信用恐慌表现的反而比美国和欧洲的同行们更加勇敢、果断和迅速。当然,在巴西,长期借贷市场吗,是不存在的,除了出售股本或是求助于黑手党/高利贷,巴西国家经济社会发展银行是唯一现实的选择。
但这些资金是有代价的...对我们其他人来说。如果巴西国家经济社会发展银行在紧急情况下能够像它在2008年做的一样果决,不错。如果他的资本技术启动,很好。如果它还能在建学校、给老师发薪水、资助给排水系统等方面个新奇金融解决方案的话...那就棒极了。