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>For example, during the 1980s Brazil enforced strict controls on the import of foreign computers in an effort to nurture its own "infant" computer industry. Th

>For example, during the 1980s Brazil enforced strict controls on the import of foreign computers in an effort to nurture its own "infant" computer industry. This industry never matured; the technological gap between Brazil and the rest of the world actually widened, while the protected industries merely copied low-end foreign computers and sold them at inflated prices. In addition, countries that put up barriers to imports will often face retaliatory barriers to their exports, potentially hurting the same industries that infant industry protection is intended to help. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_industry_argument https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_industry_argument

dep_b 8y ago
I still have a Brazilian Atari 2600 clone from the end of the eighties or start of the 90's. Beamrider!
jecel 8y ago
Please note that there are errors in this text. All imports were banned due to the external debt crises. What was special about the computer industry is that foreign companies were not allowed to make mini computers or smaller locally unlike in other industries. The lack of original designs were something that worried a lot of people at the time, but it turned out that PC clones killed everything else world wide so it wouldn't have mattered in the end. While it was easy to find examples of inflated prices (the first PC clone was launched at US$15K for a configuration for which IBM charged US$5K, for example) there were a few cases where the local copy cost less than the original (like the TK3000 compared to the Apple //e). I lobbied against the "reserved market policy" at the time and still wish that Brazil had taken Taiwan's path instead, but people remember things wrong and don't learn what they should from it. An Atari 2600 clone was mentioned in another comment, for example. Videogames were not subject to the policy. Atari and Polyvox/Gradiente had a joint venture for the 2600 and Philips made its Odyssey 2, both things which the policy prohibited. Yet people remember the policy as being to blame for the late and expensive games even though the situation persisted for decades after its end in 1992.

dep_b 8y ago

I still have a Brazilian Atari 2600 clone from the end of the eighties or start of the 90's. Beamrider!

jecel 8y ago

Please note that there are errors in this text. All imports were banned due to the external debt crises. What was special about the computer industry is that foreign companies were not allowed to make mini computers or smaller locally unlike in other industries. The lack of original designs were something that worried a lot of people at the time, but it turned out that PC clones killed everything else world wide so it wouldn't have mattered in the end. While it was easy to find examples of inflated prices (the first PC clone was launched at US$15K for a configuration for which IBM charged US$5K, for example) there were a few cases where the local copy cost less than the original (like the TK3000 compared to the Apple //e). I lobbied against the "reserved market policy" at the time and still wish that Brazil had taken Taiwan's path instead, but people remember things wrong and don't learn what they should from it. An Atari 2600 clone was mentioned in another comment, for example. Videogames were not subject to the policy. Atari and Polyvox/Gradiente had a joint venture for the 2600 and Philips made its Odyssey 2, both things which the policy prohibited. Yet people remember the policy as being to blame for the late and expensive games even though the situation persisted for decades after its end in 1992.