17.905  Political Economy of Technology and Development in Brazil and Mexico

This course offers a broad, historical overview of the political economy of development in the two largest countries of Latin America.  Brazil and Mexico shared many important experiences ranging from the negative legacies of colonial rule, to dependence on natural resource exports, to protectionist state-led development in the 20th century, to later market oriented reform, to the recent scourges of drug trafficking and criminality.  In politics, both countries weathered periods of authoritarian rule in the 20th century but then succeeded in consolidating democracy in the 21st century.  Within this overall context, both countries also struggled to develop an autonomous capacity for innovation and technological development.  Both relied heavily on foreign technology transfer, especially through MNCs (multinational corporations), but suffered from generally low levels of investment in R&D and education overall.  The contrasts between the two countries are also revealing, especially since the 2000s and especially in sectors like telecommunications, media, biofuels, aircraft manufacturing, and oil exploration, and overall in Mexico’s closer integration through Nafta into the US economy through manufactured exports compared to Brazil’s more balanced integration into the world economy through commodity exports.  In addition to covering extensive empirical research the course will address some of the pivotal theoretical and policy disputes over the appropriate mix of state and market, the optimum balance between foreign and domestic sources of capital and technology, and the trade off between growth and equity.