Um estudo comparado sobre o desenvolvimento industrial de Caxias do Sul e de Santa Cruz do Sul.

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to identify the main differences between the process of industrialization of Caxias do Sul and Santa Cruz do Sul. Our main theoretical framework to explain the development of the analyzed regions is the theory of Douglas North. This author developed a staple theory of economic growth. The analytical framework used in this thesis come to be known as the export base theory of regional development. The framework places particular emphasis on a region’s export sector as a critical determinant of its growth rate and economic structure. He asked why does one area remain tied to a single export staple while another diversifies it´s production and becomes an urbanized and industrializes economy. North explains that the sustained expansion depends on the factors, the natural endowments of the region, the character of the export industry and changes in technology and transfers costs. We wanted to know why two regions, which had in the past, a similar economic organization, eventually developed in different ways. Our main problem, in this thesis, is to inquire: why Caxias do Sul became a multi-specialist region and Santa Cruz specialized in one product? Our thesis, based on North’s theory, is that, the divergences, between the two regions, could be explained by the characteristics of the export industry. Our research was an investigation of regional comparative economic history and we used the comparative method to study the differences and the similar elements. Our main objective was to identify the source of the industry in each region and determine the agents who were the responsible for both manufacturing processes and which were the sources for the primitive accumulation. Another element that was verified was the productive chain and the importance of the different theories of the economic development to explain the different path. At a first moment, we systematized the historical process of selection of the export base and its consequences. Subsequently we evaluated whether the increasing divergence could be explained by the choice of the main region’s export sector. We also faced the conclusions with the literature available alternative and evaluated if the cases of Caxias and Santa Cruz have strengthened or weakened the theoretical model of Douglass North.