Institutional Change as an Endogenous Development Factor: An Analysis of Livestock Systems in Southern Brazil

This study aimed to analyze institutional change as an endogenous development factor in livestock systems in southern Brazil. To this end, a qualitative approach was used, using semi-structured interviews with experts and livestock farmers. The data collected was analyzed using the content analysis technique. The results showed that positive institutional changes are taking place in the production choices made by cattle farmers, increasing their competitiveness and economic representativeness in the region. However, organizational and behavioral aspects still hinder the region’s development in an endogenous way, aspects that are still very much related to the region’s economic formation, based on extensive livestock farming and marked by the isolation of the actors in the production chain. In the end, proposing a theoretical-empirical model for verifying the economic, organizational and behavioral institutions in southern Brazil’s family and non-family livestock systems and their respective change processes was possible.