abstract

This report summarizes main characteristics of the Brazilian Pesquisa Industrial Anual (PIA), a survey of Brazilian manufacturing firms and plants conducted annually by the Brazilian census bureau IBGE between 1986 and 1990, and from 1992 to the present. Paying attention mostly to firms, for which better data are available than for plants, the report discusses three major concerns. First, it documents the longitudinal relations between firms such as entry, creation, exit, and absorption by other firms. Second, it proposes ways to link economic variables over time, correcting for changes in surveying methods. Third, this report recommends ways to deflate the economic variables in PIA.