The “peripherality” of Brazil and the technological dependency in Ignácio Rangel’s works

Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate how the issues of technological development and the peripherality of Brazil were approached in Ignácio Rangel’s works, highlighting how his ideas can be analyzed today. As Rangel identified, one of the major characteristics of the Brazilian economy is the coexistence of modern and archaic productive forces, which are unevenly spread across the national territory. Technological progress in peripheral economies takes place in different ways and on long development cycles. Developing financial institutions that can enable the growth of an innovative environment in Brazil is one of the challenges highlighted in Rangel's writings. In addition, we demonstrate that Rangel’s approach to the issue of technological dependence differs from conventional interpretations by adherents of the dependency theory. Despite some similarities with Cepal readings Brazilian technological dependence is temporally and sectorally relativized by Ignácio Rangel.