Peer effects na educação no Brasil: evidência a partir dos dados do SAEB

Este trabalho estima o efeito das Interações Sociais no desempenho dos estudantes no Brasil, a partir dos dados do SAEB 2005. Os resultados apontam que Peer Effects explicam uma parte importante da proficiência observada no exame de Matemática. Além disto, encontramos evidências de que este efeito é concentrado nos alunos no topo da distribuição de habilidade, o que sugere que políticas de ability tracking podem ser ótimas.

Peer effects on locus of control

Eu analiso o papel que a interação entre pares tem na determinação do Locus de Controle, uma medida de quão pessoalmente responsável as pessoas se sentem com relação a diferentes aspectos de suas vidas. Eu estabeleço identificação através de variação no tamanho do grupo e de variáveis instrumentais baseadas na estrutura de painel dos dados. Eu estudo a questão no contexto escolar, utilizando os dados de alunos no Ensino Fundamental de um município brasileiro, que inclui o questionário de Tel Aviv de Locus de Controle. Minhas estimativas não apresentam sinais de peer effects endógenos ou contextuais.

Peer to peer lending and financial inclusion in Brazil: a case study

While pursuing the objective to investigate the potential for the P2P innovation to enhance financial inclusion in Brazil, the P2P industry and the current market environment were analyzed in order to highlight the factors that can facilitate this desired enhancement. There seems to be no doubt that there is substantial potential for the P2P industry worldwide and in Brazil but, beyond this, a considerable part of this industry could be providing financially inclusive products. The P2P industry in Brazil needs to recognize the potential for growing, not only the industry itself, but also the market for financially inclusive P2P products. The first section of this thesis focuses on financial inclusion briefly in order to establish the frame of what is being addressed. Subsequently the P2P industry is analyzed globally, locally in Brazil and with regard to financial inclusion. The study is conducted through an interview with the founder of a P2P platform in Brazil and its data collection is used to build a case study which allowed for an analysis of the potential for financial inclusion of the P2P industry and the development of key success factors with regard to converting this potential into results.

Learning in peer-to-peer markets: evidence from Airbnb

Peer-to-peer markets are highly uncertain environments due to the constant presence of shocks. As a consequence, sellers have to constantly adjust to these shocks. Dynamic Pricing is hard, especially for non-professional sellers. We study it in an accommodation rental marketplace, Airbnb. With scraped data from its website, we: 1) describe pricing patterns consistent with learning; 2) estimate a demand model and use it to simulate a dynamic pricing model. We simulate it under three scenarios: a) with learning; b) without learning; c) with full information. We have found that information is an important feature concerning rental markets. Furthermore, we have found that learning is important for hosts to improve their profits.