Copied goods and the informal economy in Brazil and China: outlining a comparison of development models

since the 1980s, china and brazil became increasingly interconnected, based largely on the production, distribution and consumption of cheap chinese products. these countries have different cultural and historical attitudes to copied goods and non-regulated economic activities. however, over the last decade the dominant nations of the world system have been strengthening enforcement against piracy. this means that china and brazil are now supposed to deal with the so-called piracy and their marketplaces. based on ethnographical research of the commodity chain from china to brazil from 1999 to 2009, this paper argues that brazil and china react in different ways to the repression of piracy imposed by major international actors. despite the fact that the informal economy and the market for copies play an important role in both countries, the chinese state views such activities as drivers of its development, while the brazilian state interprets them as obstacles.