A privatização das águas no contexto da contrarreforma do estado brasileiro
The article brings forward the so-called water reform in Brazil, as it was proposed by the federal government. It highlights its social, economic and environmental dimensions. Such a proposal intends to change the ways of controlling the access to water, in view of its privatization, as water is a natural resource that integrates every process of production, besides the fact that it is essential to preserve life. Because of that, the water reform is considered one of the actions of the counter-reform of the Brazilian state, according to the dominant interests in search of getting over the present crisis of capital.
Investimento direto estrangeiro e o desempenho das exportações brasileiras
Brazil, in the 1990s, assumed a remarkable position as a host of foreign direct investment. It is worth mentioning that the service sector received the highest proportion of foreign investment. This market seeking strategy was responsible for the growth of the Brazilian imports. The results are confirmed by the performance of foreign enterprises into different groups of activities. Those enterprises with majority of foreign capital have increased their imports the most from 1995 to 2000. Therefore, during the 1995-2000 period, this study does not support the view that foreign investment has directly improved the performance of the Brazilian exporting sector.
How Foreign Investment Affects Host Countries
Foreign direct investment may promote economic development by helping to improve productivity growth and exports in the multinationals' host countries, the authors conclude, after reviewing the empirical evidence. But the exact relationship between foreign multinational corporations and their host economies seems to vary between industries and countries. Multinational corporations mainly enter industries where barriers to entry and concentration are relatively high, and at first they increase the number of firms in the host country market. In the long run, they may contribute to a more concentrated market, although efficiency may improve, especially if protection does not guarantee an easy life for the multinational affiliate. However, most available evidence has to do with multinationals' entry into host countries' industries rather than with their presence -the dynamic aspects of multinationals' relationship to their competition in host country markets. Most evidence on multinationals' effects has to do with effects in industrial countries, and it is impossible to disregard the risk that the multinationals' entry into developing countries may replace local production and force local firms out of business, rather than force them to become more efficient.