Econometric study of the Brazilian beef sector

The first part thus consists of a description of the wide range of government policy that has influenced the beef sector over the period and an evaluation of the key factors influencing beef policy. The hypotheses formed in this part of the study, together with various theories presented in recent studies of this type for other countries, form the basis for specifying an empirical model of the Brazilian beef economy as a whole. The model is compromised of behavioral relations representing each of the subsectors which make up or influence the beef sector: supply, domestic demand, foreign trade and government policy. The empirical model is based on the theory that Brazil is a price-taker in the world market for beef, but that the government can and does alter the relationship between the world beef price, which is given to it, and the domestic beef price, by using a series of instruments of beef trade policy. It is hypothesized that these adjustments have been made in the past in an attempt to meet certain objectives involved in development strategy, inflation control and the balance of payments.