The state as naive entrepreneur: The political economy of export promotion in Brazil and Tunisia

Export-promotion strategies based on the success of the East Asian newly industrializing countries have been proffered in the 1990s to middle-income countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. This article argues that far from untried, export-promotion policies were attempted in Brazil and Tunisia in the 1960s and 1970s, with only limited long-term success. The problems of export promotion in these two countries are attributed to the lack of strategic export policies, the political costs of changing policy in a more effective direction, and the reliance on a few products and markets.