Book-tax differences e gerenciamento de resultados no mercado de ações do Brasil

Este estudo verifica a relação entre book-tax differences (BTD) e gerenciamento de resultado em companhias listadas na BM&FBovespa no período de 2005 a 2009. Metodologicamente, foram empregadas duas abordagens: (i) distribuição de frequências e (ii) accruals discricionários - Modelo Jones Modificado. Os achados indicam uma relação diretamente proporcional entre a BTD e os accruals discricionários. Foram identificadas evidências de que as entidades preponderantemente gerenciam seus resultados na mesma direção do sinal observado da BTD, além de buscarem apresentar o montante de BTD em nível e em variação em torno do ponto zero e desta forma evitar sinalizar baixa qualidade do lucro. Adicionalmente, foram encontradas evidências de que o tamanho da firma e a adoção do regime tributário de transição estão relacionados de forma inversamente proporcional ao nível dos accruals discricionários.

Book citations: influence of epidemiologic thought in the academic community

Whilst their 'death' has often been certified, books remain highly important to most professions and academic disciplines. Analyses of citations received by epidemiologic texts may complement other views on epidemiology. The objective was to assess the number of citations received by some books of epidemiology and public health, as a first step towards studying the influence of epidemiological thought and thinking in academia. For this purpose, Institute for Scientific Information/ Thomson Scientific - Web of Science/ Web of Knowledgedatabase was consulted, in May 2006. The book by Rothman & Greenland appeared to have received the highest number of citations overall (over 8,000) and per year. The books by Kleinbaum et al, and by Breslow & Day received around 5,000 citations. In terms of citations per year the book by Sackett et al ranks 3rd, and the one by Rose, 4th of those included in this preliminary study. Other books which were influential in the classrooms collected comparatively less citations. Results offer a rich picture of the academic influences and trends of epidemiologic methods and reasoning on public health, clinical medicine and the other health, life and social sciences. They may contribute to assess epidemiologists' efforts to demarcate epidemiology and to assert epistemic authority, and to analyze some historical influences of economic, social and political forces on epidemiological research.

Tecnologias da informação e da comunicação e a polêmica sobre direito autoral: o caso Google Book Search

Anotamos, neste trabalho, reflexões sobre as conseqüências das Tecnologias da Informação e da Comunicação (TICs) para o direito autoral e sobre os atores do processo informativo. Partimos da lei do direito autoral vigente no Brasil, perguntando-nos como tais normas protegem as obras intelectuais no contexto digital e até que ponto há legalidade e legitimidade na digitalização de livros protegidos, disponibilizados on-line, tomando como exemplo o caso "Google Book Search". Constatamos que a lei atual pouco defende os direitos dos autores e dos leitores, pois se volta para a proteção dos interesses privados comerciais, e que a sociedade civil encontra formas de ampliar o fluxo comunicativo em decorrência da facilidade de reprodução e distribuição de cópias de obras intelectuais proporcionada pelas TICs.

Book review of Consciousness by Christopher Hill

Christopher S. Hill advances a theory of conscious experience that employs the idea of representation to unify and explain a wide range of subjective phenomena, including emotions and pain. The theory shows the relevance of philosophical thought in a multidisciplinary view of the mind.

Brazilian scientific funding agency budgets have not matched the country's economic growth

The growth of the Brazilian economy in recent years has created an atmosphere of optimism in various segments of Brazilian society, with several important international repercussions. In this paper, we analyze in detail how this economic growth is reflected in investments in science and technology made by major academic funding agencies. As a result, we observed a discrepancy in the growth of funding input and the growth of the Brazilian gross domestic product. This fact associated with an increased academic output entails negative consequences for the system. This may be a symptom of an academic community not fully understood by society and vice versa. Finally, we believe that a long-lasting important change in investment policy in science is necessary in order to ensure financial security for the academic system as a whole.

The real mechanisms of the global economy

The paper presents the main arguments of Bresser Pereira's Globalization and Competition. Development strategies based on the 'conventional orthodoxy' are shown to carry serious drawbacks ("Dutch disease", pernicious effects of external saving, currency overvaluation), while a 'new developmentalism' is promoted, in spite of the widespread belief that the nation-states have been dispossessed of their room for manoeuvre because of the globalization process. The "new developmentalism" is based on domestic finance, balanced public budgets, moderate interest rates and competitiveness policies aimed at neutralizing the tendency to exchange rate overappreciation. The paper also points out a few theoretical questions the book raises.