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SMEs and economic growth in the Brazilian micro‐regions

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  • Túlio A. Cravo

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector and economic growth for a panel of 508 Brazilian micro‐regions for the period 1980–2004. It investigates the importance of the SME sector size measured by the share of the SME employment in total employment, and the level of human capital in the SME sector measured by the average years of schooling in SMEs. Furthermore, it examines how these aspects of SMEs influence growth in regions with dissimilar level of development. The empirical findings show that the presence of SMEs is not positively correlated with growth and SMEs' human capital is more important for growth in more developed regions. Resumen Este artículo examina la relación entre el sector de pequeñas y medianas empresas (PyMEs) y el crecimiento económico para un panel de 508 microrregiones brasileñas durante el periodo 1980–2004. Investiga la importancia del tamaño del sector PyMEs medido como la proporción de empleo en PyMEs respecto del empleo total, y la cualificación del capital humano en el sector PyMEs medido por el número de años de escolaridad en PyMEs. Además, examina cómo influyen estos aspectos de las PyMEs en el crecimiento en regiones con niveles de desarrollo diferentes. Los resultados empíricos muestran que la presencia de PyMEs no está correlacionada positivamente con el crecimiento y que el capital humano de las PyMEs es más importante para el crecimiento en las regiones más desarrolladas.

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  • Túlio A. Cravo, 2010. "SMEs and economic growth in the Brazilian micro‐regions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(4), pages 711-734, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:presci:v:89:y:2010:i:4:p:711-734
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1435-5957.2010.00301.x
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    2. Pires, Jose Claudio Linhares & Cravo, Tulio & Lodato, Simon & Piza, Caio, 2013. "Industrial Clusters and Economic Performance in Brazil," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4771, Inter-American Development Bank.
    3. Ricardo Carvalho De Andrade Lima & Raul Da Mota Silveira Neto, 2016. "Physical and Human Capital and Brazilian Regional Growth: A Spatial Econometric Approach for the Period 1970–2010," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(10), pages 1688-1701, October.
    4. Guilherme Mendes Resende & Alexandre Xavier Ywata de Carvalho & Patrícia Alessandra Morita Sakowski, 2013. "Evaluating Multiple Spatial Dimensions of Economic Growth in Brazil Using Spatial Panel Data Models (1970 - 2000)," Discussion Papers 1830a, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - IPEA.
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    6. , Aisdl, 2021. "Factors Determining the Development of Minimum Comparable Areas and Spatial Interaction," OSF Preprints 9e7xz, Center for Open Science.
    7. Oluseyi Moses Ajayi & Susan C. Morton, 2015. "Exploring the Enablers of Organizational and Marketing Innovations in SMEs," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(1), pages 21582440155, February.
    8. Túlio Cravo & Guilherme Resende, 2013. "Economic growth in Brazil: a spatial filtering approach," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 50(2), pages 555-575, April.
    9. Dhar, Rajib Lochan, 2015. "Service quality and the training of employees: The mediating role of organizational commitment," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 419-430.
    10. Túlio Cravo, 2011. "Regional Economic Growth and SMEs in Brazil: a Spatial Analysis (Submission for the Refereed Y-session Papers)," ERSA conference papers ersa10p508, European Regional Science Association.

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