The effects of longevity and distortions on education and retirement

This article studies the impact of longevity and taxation on life-cycle decisions and long-run income. Individuals allocate optimally their total lifetime between education, working and retirement. They also decide at each moment how much to save or consume out of their income, and after entering the labor market how to divide their time between labor and leisure. The model incorporates experience-earnings profiles and the return-to-education function that follows evidence from the labor literature. In this setup, increases in longevity raises the investment in education - time in school - and retirement. The model is calibrated to the U.S. and is able to reproduce observed schooling levels and the increase in retirement, as the evidence shows. Simulations show that a country equal to the U.S. but with 20% smaller longevity will be 25% poorer. In this economy, labor taxes have a strong impact on the per capita income, as it decreases labor effort, time at school and retirement age, in addition to the general equilibrium impact on physical capital. We conclude that life-cycle effects are relevant in analyzing the aggregate outcome of taxation.

The evolution of TFP in Latin America: high productivity when distortions were high?

Due to widespread government intervention and import-substitution industrialization, there has been a general presumption that Latin America has been much less productive than the leading economies in the last decades. In this paper, however, we show that until the late seventies Latin America had high total factor productivity (TFP) levels relative to the US and other regions. It is only after the late seventies that we observe a fast decrease of relative TFP in Latin America. Results are robust to the use of diferent methodologies and data sources.

Vintage capital, distortions and development

This paper asks to what extent distortions to the adoption of new technology cause income inequality across nations. We work in the framework of embodied technological progress with an individual, C.E.S. production function. We estimate the parameters of this production function from international data and calibrate the model, using U.S. National Income statistics. Our analysis suggests that distortions account for a bigger portion of income inequality than hitherto has been assessed.

Distortions in the investment goods sector and productivity decline

We study the impact of distortions in the investment goods sector on aggregate total factor productivity (TFP). We develop a two-sector neo-classical growth model in which TFP in the capital goods sector relative to TFP in the consumption sector is inversely related to the price of investment relative to consumption, so that we use relative prices to measure TFP in the investment goods sector. The model is calibrated to Brazil and we nd that distortions in the investment goods sector may explain most of the decline in Brazilian TFP relative to the United States since the mid-1970s.

Essays on cartels and market distortions

This dissertation is a conjunction of three essays on the Industrial Organization field, this empirical work is applied to the Brazilian retail gasoline market. The first essay investigates the existence of spillover effects from cartel activity. The second essay relates the well-known economic puzzle of asymmetric cost pass through to prices with the existence of horizontal coordination - cartels - in the relevant market. Finally, the third essay investigates the effectiveness of antitrust interventions inside the offenders and the consequences of its disclosure in related markets.

The implications of embodiment and Putty-Clay to economic development

In this paper we construct and analyze a growth model with the following three ingredients. (i) Technological progress is embodied. (ii) The production function of a firm is such that the firm makes both technology upgrade as well as capital and labor decisions. (iii) The firm’s production technology is putty-clay. We assume that there are disincentives to the accumulation of capital, resulting in a divergence between the social and the private cost of investment. We solve a single firm’s problem in this environment. Then we determine general equilibrium prices of capital goods of different vintages. Using these prices we aggregate firms’ decisions and construct the theoretical analogues of National Income statistics. This generates a relationship between disincentives and per capita incomes. We analyze this relationship and show the quantitative and qualitative roles of embodiment and putty-clay. We also show how the model is taken to data, quantified and used to determine to what extent income gaps across countries can be attributed to disincentives.

Trade and infrastructure: evidences from the Andean Community

This paper presents evidence on the key role of infrastructure in the Andean Community trade patterns. Three distinct but related gravity models of bilateral trade are used. The first model aims at identifying the importance of the Preferential Trade Agreement and adjacency on intra-regional trade, while also checking the traditional roles of economic size and distance. The second and third models also assess the evolution of the Trade Agreement and the importance of sharing a common border, but their main goal is to analyze the relevance of including infrastructure in the augmented gravity equation, testing the theoretical assumption that infrastructure endowments, by reducing trade and transport costs, reduce “distance” between bilateral partners. Indeed, if one accepts distance as a proxy for transportation costs, infrastructure development and improvement drastically modify it. Trade liberalization eliminates most of the distortions that a protectionist tariff system imposes on international business; hence transportation costs represent nowadays a considerably larger barrier to trade than in past decades. As new trade pacts are being negotiated in the Americas, borders and old agreements will lose significance; trade among countries will be nearly without restrictions, and bilateral flows will be defined in terms of costs and competitiveness. Competitiveness, however, will only be achieved by an improvement in infrastructure services at all points in the production-distribution chain.

Produtividade agregada brasileira (1970-2000): declínio robusto e fraca recuperação

This study explores the productivity performance of the Brazilian economy between 1970 and 1998. We assess how much of the TFP downfall can be explained by some departures from the standard procedure. We incorporate to the standard measure utilization of capacity, changes in the workweek of capital, services of capital from electricity consumption, relative prices distortions, human capital, and investment in specific technology. We conclude that the downfall in productivity is quite robust to those specifications. The only case that presents a marked difference from the standard TFP measure occurs when relative prices of capital are corrected. The implications of this finding are a topic for future research.

Infrastructure privatization in a neoclassical economy : macroeconomic impact and welfare computation

In this paper a competitive general equilibrium model is used to investigate the welfare and long run allocation impacts of privatization. There are two types of capital in this model economy, one private and the other initially public ("infrastructure"), and a positive externality due to the latter is assumed. A benevolent government can improve upon decentralized allocation internalizing the externality, but it introduces distortions in the economy through the finance of its investments. It is shown that even making the best case for public action - maximization of individuals' welfare, no• operation inefficiency and free supply to society of infrastructure services - privatization is welfare improving for a large set of economies. Hence, arguments against privatization based solely on under-investment are incorrect, as this maybe the optimal action when the financing of public investment are considered. When operation inefficiency is introduced in the public sector, gains from privatization are much higher and positive for most reasonable combinations of parameters .

Análise da tributação do consumo no Brasil

Nas últimas décadas, as propostas de reforma tributária em diversos países foram redirecionadas para a redução dos encargos incidentes sobre poupança e investimento, para a atenuação da progressividade do imposto sobre a renda do trabalho e para o aumento da participação dos impostos sobre o consumo na receita tributária. Atualmente, os impostos sobre o consumo representam a parcela mais significativa da carga tributária no Brasil. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar as principais características e ineficiências da tributação do consumo no Brasil. Algumas distorções já foram corrigidas, mas outras ainda necessitam de correção. Pretende-se também mostrar os maiores desafios para a reformulação dessa forma de tributação.

Análise da proposta de reforma tributária (EC nº 42) do governo Lula

As mudanças tributárias realizadas na última década priorizaram o ajuste fiscal com uma elevação da carga de impostos que saltou de 27% do PIB, em 1994, para cerca de 36% do PIB, em 2003. Esse aumento da carga tributária esteve associado principalmente ao aumento das contribuições sociais cumulativas. Além dessa crescente cumulatividade, outras características que têm marcado o sistema tributário brasileiro são a complexidade e os conflitos federativos que alimentam uma profunda guerra fiscal entre Estados e municípios. Em abril de 2003, o Governo Lula encaminhou ao Congresso Nacional uma ampla proposta de reforma tributária, tendo como objetivos principais (i) simplificar o sistema tributário brasileiro, (ii) reduzir a cumulatividade dos tributos e (iii) acabar com a guerra fiscal. Apesar do reconhecimento generalizado de que a carga tributária brasileira é excessivamente elevada, o governo federal limitou-se a assumir o compromisso de não promover aumentos adicionais de impostos. Inserido nesse contexto, este estudo analisa (i) o quadro fiscal brasileiro, procurando identificar as reais restrições que impedem a redução da carga tributária brasileira e (ii) as medidas tributárias propostas pelo Governo Lula, destacando suas implicações sobre o desenvolvimento econômico brasileiro.

O ensino da psicologia no curso de administração: como trabalhar em pequenos grupos favorecendo a relação de equipes

A autora, em seu trabalho na área de consultoria, observou que as pessoas não são instrumentalizadas em sua formação para operar nas interações. Ainda, que haja uma dificuldade muito grande em aplicar as informações, obtidas através de treinamentos a que são submetidos, às situações cotidianas do trabalho. Os processos grupais não são percebidos na sua amplitude, na medida em que são enfatizados os resultados, sem que o percurso para neles se chegar seja reconhecido vivencialmente. Neste sentido, muitos cursos são oferecidos, mas nem todas as pessoas passam a se dar conta de resistências, obstáculos inerentes a toda e qualquer interação. Ainda existe uma percepção forte de que o simples conhecimento evita distorções, e assim os processos internos se são conhecidos, são pouco vivenciados, e portanto há pouca possibilidade de transformá-los, quando não podem ser identificados, nomeados e aí então articulados com o teórico. Há uma cisão entre a teoria e a vivência. Foi refletindo sobre essas questões que esse trabalho buscou criar uma metodologia que auxiliasse o conteúdo da Psicologia e o trabalho em equipe.

Autonomia dos centros de pós-graduação em economia: uma abordagem institucional e de história oral

Este trabalho pretende analisar os principais centros de pós-graduação e de pesquisa em economia localizados em São Paulo e no Rio de Janeiro, a partir do levantamento de documentos, programas, regulamentos e publicações de seus principais expoentes. Também pretendemos utilizar depoimentos desses expoentes para entender como os processos decisórios foram analisados de "dentro" da instituição. A história da vida do entrevistado permite que entremos no mundo das emoções, nos limites da racionalidade do ator histórico. Ao quebrarmos o esquematismo simplista, podemos desvendar as relações entre o indivíduo e a rede histórica. A memória, com suas falhas, distorções e inversões, torna-se um elemento de análise para explicar o presente, a partir da compreensão do passado sob a ótica de quem vivenciou os fatos.

Teoria e prática na proteção aos acionistas minoritários: um olhar sobre o direito de retirada nas reorganizações societárias

This paper analyzes the evolution of the protection to the minority stockholders of the stock market, through their right to withdrawal when the society is reorganized. Thus, a triple study was done: In the first place, it analyzes the evolution of legal protection for the minority stockholders with relation to possible abuses that can be committed by the majority stockholders of public traded corporations when there is a Public Offering for Stocks Acquisition (POSAs). In the second place, it studies opinions about this legal protection of portfolio managers and lawyers who deal with corporate law. Finally, it verified the POSAs which occurred in recent periods, comparing the values used by the majority stockholders to reimburse the stocks from minority shareholders in those POSAs. Comparing the results of these three above studies, we conclude that: A) The current legislation does not protect adequately the minority stockholders; B) There is a great dispersion of opinions among the two categories of professionals, concerning their approval or not of important details of the current legislation, and also of the old legislation; C) A great dispersion also exists about the suggestions concerning what should be modified in the legislation to improve it; D) The Brazilian Securities Commission (Comissão de Valores Mobiliários ¿ CVM) did not prevent the distortions observed in the POSAs studied; E) The legislation is not always well known by these professionals, and this suggests that the knowledge of small investors must be precarious. This insecurity and ignorance of the legal protection become obstacles for nonspecialized persons to invest in stocks, resulting in an important limitation for the development and popularization of the Brazilian stock market.

O Registro civil no Brasil

After having done an accurate analysis of the Registry Office in Brazil it was found out that there are some distortions, as the one which makes possible the existence of significant contingent of population - 'the registeredless' ('os sem-registros' ) - people who live on the margins of society. This system is based on private patterns coming from the extrajudicial registry offices performance and through a government official concession, the registry offices have obtained the legal right to take over registration services.The maintenance of this model has been put in question and debates have been taking place all over Brazil. This process, on the other hand, produces data which are collected, processed and disseminated by IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística) and could be the source of very important statistical information if there were not blanks created by the 'subregistration' caused by offical records evasion and/ or by late offical records. The main purpose of this work is to show how deficient is the current system in Brazil, not only by pointing out the problems which still happen nowadays but also by thinking carefully about the difficulties to search for process improvement. In conclusion, there is a latent need to rethink the way the Registry Office system is structured in Brazil. Discussions can act as a stimulus to find out more suitable and definitive solutions for all the Brazilian citizens who are interested in consolidate democracy in Brazil.