Do the psychological impacts of war cause poverty?: Evidence from Mozambique

This paper evaluates the extent to which war-related psychological distress causes poverty. The endogeneous nature of mental distress is addressed by using exposure to the civil war in Mozambique as an instrument. It is found that exposure to war has a significant and positive long-lasting impact on mental distress. Furthermore, the causal impact of war-related psychological distress on income and wealth is shown to be significant, negative, and nonnegligible. One standard deviation increase in mental distress decreases income by half a standard deviation. These findings are robust to alternative specifications, including the use of an alternative database on the incidence of PTSD in Mozambique.

The Impact of income support programs on transitions to employment

The income support programs are created with the purpose of fighting both, the poverty trap and the inactivity trap. The balance between both is fragile and hard to find. Thus, the goal of this work is to contribute to solve this issue by finding how income support programs, particularly the Portuguese RSI, affect transitions to employment. This is made through duration analysis, namely using Cox and Competing Risks models. A particular feature is introduced in this work as it incorporates the possibility of Defective Risks. The estimated hazard elasticity with respect to the amount of RSI received for individuals who move to employment is -0,41. More than a half of RSI receivers stays for more than a year and the probability of never leaving to employment is 44%. The results appear to indicate that RSI has affected negatively transitions to employment.

Dentro de portas : trabalhadoras do sexo em contexto de interior : utilização e acesso a serviços de saúde na área da infeção VIH-Sida

RESUMO - O presente estudo pretende contribuir a nível de saúde pública para o planeamento de estratégias orientadas para a prevenção, rastreio e tratamento do VIH/Sida em trabalhadores sexuais em contexto de interior. Esta é uma população de difícil acesso, particularmente vulnerável à infeção por VIH, e associada a fatores de risco que incluem a pobreza, discriminação e desigualdade de género, estigma e exclusão social, condicionando o seu acesso a serviços de saúde. Analisaram-se 272 questionários aplicados no âmbito do estudo PREVIH na área da Grande Lisboa no período entre Agosto de 2011 e Setembro de 2012 a pessoas que fazem trabalho sexual em contexto de interior. Foi realizada uma abordagem analítica permitindo a descrição do fenómeno e a análise da relação entre variáveis sociodemográficas e variáveis sobre o acesso a saúde para informação, prevenção e teste na área do VIH/Sida. Verificou-se que nesta amostra maioritariamente feminina existe elevada presença dos outros dois géneros e os indivíduos são maioritariamente migrantes. O trabalho sexual é uma forma exclusiva de trabalho, sendo exercido a tempo inteiro e em apartamentos. Foram detetados condicionamentos no acesso a serviços de saúde nas populações minoritárias e mais suscetíveis a discriminação, tanto na questão do género como da nacionalidade. Estes resultados apontam para a necessidade de planear intervenções nesta área que permitam uma abordagem participativa e de proximidade com as populações mais vulneráveis e também a necessidade de dar continuidade à investigação nesta área no sentido de reforçar políticas de saúde pública aplicadas a trabalhadores sexuais.

The role of income inequality on fiscal multipliers

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Double Degree in Economics from the Nova School of Business and Economics and University of Maastricht

Search-for-yield in Portuguese fixed-income mutual funds and monetary policy

This paper studies the effects of monetary policy on mutual fund risk taking using a sample of Portuguese fixed-income mutual funds in the 2000-2012 period. Firstly I estimate time-varying measures of risk exposure (betas) for the individual funds, for the benchmark portfolio, as well as for a representative equally-weighted portfolio, through 24-month rolling regressions of a two-factor model with two systematic risk factors: interest rate risk (TERM) and default risk (DEF). Next, in the second phase, using the estimated betas, I try to understand what portion of the risk exposure is in excess of the benchmark (active risk) and how it relates to monetary policy proxies (one-month rate, Taylor residual, real rate and first principal component of a cross-section of government yields and rates). Using this methodology, I provide empirical evidence that Portuguese fixed-income mutual funds respond to accommodative monetary policy by significantly increasing exposure, in excess of their benchmarks, to default risk rate and slightly to interest risk rate as well. I also find that the increase in funds’ risk exposure to gain a boost in return (search-for-yield) is more pronounced following the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, indicating that the current historic low interest rates may incentivize excessive risk taking. My results suggest that monetary policy affects the risk appetite of non-bank financial intermediaries.

Reporting Income Taxes in the Banking Sector In Angola - Accounting, Tax Regulation and Financial Reporting Evidences

This research provides an insight into income taxes reporting in Angola, based on hand collected data from the annual reports of banks. Empirical studies on Angolan companies are scarce, in part due to the limited access to data. The results show that income taxes’ reporting has improved over the years 2010-2013, becoming more reliable and understandable. The Angolan Government is boosting the economic growth through tax benefits in the investment in public debt, which cause a reduction in the banks’ effective tax rate. The new income tax law will reduce the statutory tax rate from 2015 onwards and change the taxable income, resulting in shifting the focus to promoting private investment.

Comprehensive income: evidence from Portuguese listed companies on reporting choices and value relevance

This work project aims at analysing choices related to Comprehensive income (CI) of Portuguese listed firms and understanding the reasons behind them. Additionally, it studies the relevance of CI versus Net Income (NI). It was found that firm’s size and volume of Other comprehensive income (OCI) are positively related with the choice for separate statements while smaller firms with positive NI and negative OCI tend to disclose less information about taxes. The value relevance of CI proved to be superior to that of NI but OCI seems to have no incremental value relevance.

Progressivity in the Portuguese personal income tax system

This Work Project analyzes the evolution of the Portuguese personal income tax system’s progressivity over the period of 2005 through 2013. It presents the first computation of cardinal progressivity measures using administrative tax data for Portugal. We compute several progressivity indices and find that progressivity has had very modest variations from 2005 to 2012, whilst from 2012 to 2013 there has been a relatively stronger decrease, excluding the impact of the income tax surcharge of the years 2012 and 2013. When this latter is included, progressivity of 2012 and 2013 decreases considerably. Analyzing the effective average tax rates of the top income percentiles in the income scale, we find that these rates have increased over the period 2010–2013, suggesting that an analysis of effective tax rates is insufficient to assess progressivity in the whole tax scheme.

National suicide prevention strategy for Afghanistan (NSPS)

RESUMO: Do suicídio no Afeganistão é uma prioridade de saúde pública. O Afeganistão é um país de baixo rendimento, emergindo de três décadas de conflitos. Há uma alta prevalência de sofrimento psicológico, perturbações mentais e abuso de substâncias. Existem várias questões sociais, tais como, desequilíbrio/violência de género, pobreza, atitudes e costumes obsoletos, rápidas mudanças sócio-culturais, violação dos direitos humanos e especialmente dos direitos das mulheres e das crianças. Estes fatores de risco contribuem para o aumento da vulnerabilidade da população em relação ao suicídio. A relativa alta taxa de suicídio no Afeganistão é especialmente significativa comparada com as taxas baixas em todos os países islâmicos. Os estudos mostraram predominância de suicídio nas mulheres (95%) e em pessoas jovens. Existe, por isso, uma necessidade urgente do país ter uma estratégia de prevenção do suicídio. A estratégia foi desenvolvida pela criação de um grupo técnico/ de assessoria multi-sectorial de diferentes intervenientes tais como governo, ONGs, agências doadoras, as famílias das vítimas e outraas partes interessadas. A estratégia baseia-se os seguintes valores chave:, respeito pelas diversidades; sensibilidade para as questões sócio-cultura-religiosa e de género; promoção da dignidade da sociedade; respeito pelos direitos humanoss.. Os 'seis pontos estratégicos' são: envolvimento das principais partes interessadas e criação de colaboração intersectorial coordenada; fornecimento de cuidados às pessoas que fazem tentativas de suicídio e às suas famílias; melhoria dos serviços para pessoas com doença mental e problemas psicossociais; promover uma comunicação e imagem adequada dos comportamentos suicidas, pelos meios de comunicação; reduzir o acesso aos meios de suicídio e coligir informação sobre as taxas de suicídio, os fatores de risco, os fatores protetores e as intervenções eficazes. A estratégia nacional de prevenção do suicídio será inicialmente implementada por 5 anos, com uma avaliação anual do plano de acção para entender os seus pontos fortes e limitações. Recomendações e sugestões serão incorporadas nos próxima planos anuais para uma intervenção eficaz. Um sistema de monitorização irá medir o progresso na implementação da estratégia.-----------------------------ABSTRACT: Suicide in Afghanistan is a public health priority. Afghanistan is a low-income country, emerging from three decades of conflicts. There is high prevalence of mental distress, mental disorders and substance abuse. There are multiple social issues, such as gender imbalance/violence, poverty, obsolete attitudes and customs, rapid social-cultural changes, human right violations, and especially women and children rights. These risk factors contribute to increase the vulnerability of the population for suicide. The relative high rate of suicide in Afghanistan is especially significant as the rates are low in all Islamic countries. Research studies have shown predominance of suicide in women (95%) and in young age people. There is an urgent need for the country to have a suicide prevention strategy. The strategy has been developed by establishing a multi-sectoral technical/advisory group of different stakeholders from government, NGOs, donor agencies, victim’s families, and interested parties. The strategy is based on the following key values, namely, respect for diversities; sensitiveness to socio-culture-religious and gender issues; promotion of the society dignity and respect for the human rights of people. The six ‘Strategic directions’ are: involving key stakeholders and creating coordinated inter-sectoral collaboration; providing after care for people making a suicide attempt and their families; improving services for people with mental disorders and psycho-social problems; promoting the safe reporting and image of suicidal behaviour by media; reducing access to the means of suicide and gathering information about suicide rates, risk factor, protective factors and effective interventions. The National Suicide Prevention Strategy will be initially implemented for 5 years, with an annual evaluation of the action plan to understand the strengths and limitations. Recommendations and suggestions will be incorporated into the next annual plans for effective intervention. A monitoring framework will measure progress in implementing the strategy.