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.

Uma abordagem teórica de empresas familiares: desafios e oportunidades

This paper aims at boosting a theoretical discussion on family operated companies in the Brazilian milieu. The methodology applied was based on bibliographical and qualitative research. The basic question raised by this study can be summarized as follows: Which factors should be taken into consideration, on the family business management, under a theoretical perspective? The answer to this question led the research to a better understanding of (i) the family corporate governance; (ii) the personal characteristics of the family business manager and his/her management style; (iii) the company's teamwork; (iv) role overlaping; (v) strategic direction and management assessment; (vi) the company's administrative divisions; (vii) and above all the crucial importance of the corporate governance for family businesses. The main results confirm the relevance of corporate governance in the country's big family businesses, and also point to manager's profile, teamwork, role overlaping (relatives & employees) and its conflicts, management departments, family's control and its strategic direction as ingredients of utmost importance.

A perceived human development index

The objective of the paper is to build a Perceived Human Development Index (PHDI) framework by assembling the HDI components, namely indicators on income, health and education on their subjective version. We propose here to introduce a fourth dimension linked to perceptions on work conditions, given its role in the “happiness” literature and in social policy making. We study how perceptions on satisfaction about the individual’s satisfaction with income, education, work and health are related to their objective counterparts. We use a sample of LAC countries where we take advantage of a larger set of questions on the four groups of social variables mentioned included in the Gallup World Poll by the IADB. We emphasize the impacts of objective income and age on perceptions. Complementarily, in the appendix we use the full sample of 132 countries where a smaller set of variables can be included, which provides a greater degree of freedom to study the impact of objective HDI components observed at country level on the formation of individual’s perception on income, education, work, health and life satisfaction. These exercises provide useful insights about the workings of beneficiaries’ point of view to understand the transmission mechanism of key social policy ingredients into perceptions. In particular, the so-called PHDI may provide a complementary subjective reference to the HDI. We also study how one’s satisfaction with life is established, measuring the relative importance given to income vis-à-vis health and education. Estimating these “instantaneous happiness functions” will help to assess the relative weights attributed to income, health and education in the HDI, which is a benchmark in the multidimensional social indicators toolbox used in practice.

Derivativos de volatilidade no mercado brasileiro de câmbio : viabilidade e impactos de sua utilização

A volatilidade possui um papel central na gestão de risco tanto de portfólios de derivativos como de portfólios de ativos não alavancados. Este risco é gerenciado nos mercados financeiros através de diversos instrumentos, incluindo o uso de derivativos de volatilidade. No entanto, um mercado de derivativos de volatilidade no Brasil ainda é uma lacuna a ser preenchida, talvez pela baixa liquidez em determinadas opções ou mesmo pela falta de todos os ativos necessários para se estabelecer o portfólio replicante para os mesmos. O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar um modelo simples de se apreçar swaps de volatilidade sob o BRL, estimulando um diálogo entre a comunidade acadêmica e os praticantes do mercado que permita o desenvolvimento de derivativos de volatilidade ao considerar o melhor de cada grupo. Para se apreçar este instrumento, a modelagem e os ativos utilizados são apresentados em detalhes como sendo os ingredientes básicos de um produto financeiro de sucesso. Os resultados numéricos demonstram que o modelo proposto pode ser considerado um poderoso instrumento para se realizar o hedge do risco de volatilidade. Um benefício adicional deste trabalho é apresentar os riscos e benefícios de se utilizar este instrumento com o BRL.