A Liberalização Comercial e o Grau de Abertura da Economia Brasileira 10.5102/uri.v10i2.1743

Abstract

This paper deals with changes in the Brazilian economy that occurred since the 1990s trade liberalization. In particular, we discuss the change in the degree of openness in the country. For that, we use the traditional coefficient of openness to the industrial sector proposed by Haguenauer, Markwald and Pourchet (1998). Furthermore we also build up two other measures: (i) the aggregate coefficient of openness; and ( ii) the coefficients of openness to the industrial (another version) and agriculture sectors. The results obtained in the three opening measures indicate an expansion of trade flows with regard to imports, but without presenting the corresponding elevation on the export side, except with regard to exports from the agricultural sector. Thus, it is evident that the variations in the coefficients of openness, beyond the effect of trade liberalization, were also strongly affected by the behavior of the exchange rate.