TD NEREUS 08-2016
Joaquim José Martins Guilhoto, Paulo César Morceiro and Milene Simone Tessarin
The defense and security sector engages in a series of production and service activities that, beyond their contribution to national security and sovereignty, play an important role in terms of technological development, labor qualification, and social and economic impact. In this study, we measure the GDP of the defense and security complex in Brazil, including the upstream and downstream links of the value chain, comprising unpublished information of the country. We also assess the socioeconomic impacts of 23 investment projects of the Brazilian armed forces. We find that the Defense and security complex of Brazil corresponded to 3.7% of the country’s GDP in 2014, indicating a high potential to generate jobs paying wages above the economy average. Investment projects of the Brazilian armed forces have significant impacts on the national economy. The sectors directly affected by the investment projects are the medium-high and high technology industries and knowledge-intensive services. These sectors contribute to structural changes in Brazil once the country’s current production structure concentrates in low-intensive knowledge services sectors and commodities. Brazil lacks in studies and evaluations of public policies pertaining to the defense and security sector, and this study is an attempt to reduce these gaps