Defense Economy and National Development Exploring the Models and Synergies between China and Brazil

This paper aims at describing the manner through which both Brazil and China have invested in the defense economy as an instrument for national development. It assumes that investments in the industrial sectors can leverage the full productive chains of the civilian economy, based on the premise that the impact of defense economics is also responsible for spillovers and spin-offs that are not purely economic. In this sense, our hypothesis is that the Chinese and the Brazilian economic models have important synergies as a useful scope for bilateral initiatives engaged in the principle of expanding infrastructure, together with the international ties that make development possible. We have explored official government documents and reviewed the literature that works with the topics, besides mapping the main cooperation programs between both countries. Following the introduction, we analyze the Chinese model first, and the Brazilian model next. We then assess the programs and cooperation initiatives between the