Evidence of the importance of industry and services for the economic growth of Brazilian municipalities

Abstract The literature based on Kaldor defends industry as the engine of economic growth. However, recent studies highlight the relevance of services to increase growth. Contributing to the discussion, the objective of this paper is to evaluate the effects of industry and service shares on the GDP of Brazilian municipalities per capita growth. We also investigate whether there are heterogeneous effects due to the municipal GDP per capita level and the relative importance of these sectors according to the economies of the municipalities. To do so, we estimate panel data models from 1999 to 2012. The evidence indicates that industry plays an important role in the growth of municipalities with lower income levels. However, regarding municipalities with higher income levels, services are an extremely important engine of growth. The evidence also suggests that the relationships between economic growth and the two sectors’ shares in GDP have a shape close to an "inverted U".