Wages, productivity and profits in the Brazilian industry, 1945-1978

Abstract

Wages, productivity and profits in the Brazilian manufacturing industry, 1945-1978. This article investigates the distribution between profits and wages in Brazil’s manufacturing industry from 1945 to 1978. First, the article provides yearly series of average real wages and labour productivity, from which labour unit costs and the distribution between profits and wages in the manufacturing industry are estimated. Second, the article addresses the behaviour of wages, labour productivity and industrial income distribution in the context of variable economic, political and institutional conditions which prevailed in post-war Brazil. The results of the quantitative analysis allow us to assess both the trends and the yearly behaviour of the manufacturing income distribution during a key period of the Brazilian economic history.

JEL Classification: N36.