Human development and underdevelopment in Brazil

Abstract

This paper analyzes Brazilian human development profile. The data base was the level of human development comparative performance in Brazilian towns. Also, a logit model with panel data was estimated, aiming at identifying the elements which have some effect on the likelihood of a town to remain or to be inserted in the vicious circle of human underdevelopment over time. The study results pointed out improvements in the human development profile in Brazil, since the number of developed towns increased and there was a reduction in the number of towns which belonged to the human underdevelopment circle.