Local Productive Arrangements and local development in non-metropolitan municipalities of Sao Paulo, Brazil

ALDERETE MARÍA VERÓNICA; BACIC MIGUEL JUAN

Cuadernos de Gestión

Instituto de Economía Aplicada a la Empresa de la Universidad del País Vasco Facultad de Economía y Empresa

Año: 2016

1131-6837

The objective of this paper consists in analysing whether Local Productive Arrangements (APLs) - the Brazilian version of a cluster- can improve the local development of their host municipalities. Most studies concern about the identification and mapping of APL but only a few examine their effects on the socio-economic development of their regions. The major challenge to identifying lessons learned from APL is the lack of robust tools to measure whether or not such policies are successful at local development level. In this line a quantitative research is made to compare the local development among municipalities from the Sao Paulo State, in Brazil by using data from SEADE (Fundação Sistema Estadual de Análise de Dados). Local development is measured by a composite index (IDL) built by the authors and the Sao Paulo State Social Responsibility Index (IPRS). The former includes health and demographic dimensions which are not included in the latter. Municipalities with APL represent about 19% of the total. Based on analysis of variance, results suggest they have a better local development than municipalities without APL. Since most APLs are relevant for economic local development reasons, they play an important role both for the sectorial policies and for local development policy. This finding would validate the Sao Paulo State policies towards building and consolidation of APL.