Essays on growth and environment

This thesis consists of a summary and four self-contained papers. Paper [I] Following the 1987 report by The World Commission on Environment and Development, the genuine saving has come to play a key role in the context of sustainable development, and the World Bank regularly publishes numbers for genuine saving on a national basis. However, these numbers are typically calculated as if the tax system is non-distortionary. This paper presents an analogue to genuine saving in a second best economy, where the government raises revenue by means of distortionary taxation. We show how the social cost of public debt, which depends on the marginal excess burden, ought to be reflected in the genuine saving. We also illustrate by presenting calculations for Greece, Japan, Portugal, U.K., U.S. and OECD average, showing that the numbers published by the World Bank are likely to be biased and may even give incorrect information as to whether the economy is locally sustainable. Paper [II] This paper examines the relationships among per capita CO2 emissions, per capita GDP and international trade based on panel data spanning the period 1960-2008 for 150 countries. A distinction is also made between OECD and Non-OECD countries to capture the differences of this relationship between developed and developing economies. We apply panel unit root and cointegration tests, and estimate a panel error correction model. The results from the error correction model suggest that there are long-term relationships between the variables for the whole sample and for Non-OECD countries. Finally, Granger causality tests show that there is bi-directional short-term causality between per capita GDP and international trade for the whole sample and between per capita GDP and CO2 emissions for OECD countries. Paper [III] Fundamental questions in economics are why some regions are richer than others, why their growth rates differ, whether their growth rates tend to converge, and what key factors contribute to explain economic growth. This paper deals with the average income growth, net migration, and changes in unemployment rates at the municipal level in Sweden. The aim is to explore in depth the effects of possible underlying determinants with a particular focus on local policy variables. The analysis is based on a three-equation model. Our results show, among other things, that increases in the local public expenditure and income taxe rate have negative effects on subsequent income income growth. In addition, the results show conditional convergence, i.e. that the average income among the municipal residents tends to grow more rapidly in relatively poor local jurisdictions than in initially “richer” jurisdictions, conditional on the other explanatory variables. Paper [IV] This paper explores the relationship between income growth and income inequality using data at the municipal level in Sweden for the period 1992-2007. We estimate a fixed effects panel data growth model, where the within-municipality income inequality is one of the explanatory variables. Different inequality measures (Gini coefficient, top income shares, and measures of inequality in the lower and upper part of the income distribution) are examined. We find a positive and significant relationship between income growth and income inequality measured as the Gini coefficient and top income shares, respectively. In addition, while inequality in the upper part of the income distribution is positively associated with the income growth rate, inequality in the lower part of the income distribution seems to be negatively related to the income growth. Our findings also suggest that increased income inequality enhances growth more in municipalities with a high level of average income than in municipalities with a low level of average income.

Machine Translation and the Disruption of Foreign Language Learning Activities

This study examines the question of how language teachers in a highly technologyfriendly university environment view machine translation and the implications that this has for the personal learning environments of students. It brings an activity-theory perspective to the question, examining the ways that the introduction of new tools can disrupt the relationship between different elements in an activity system. This perspective opens up for an investigation of the ways that new tools have the potential to fundamentally alter traditional learning activities. In questionnaires and group discussions, respondents showed general agreement that although use of machine translation by students could be considered cheating, students are bound to use it anyway, and suggested that teachers focus on the kinds of skills students would need when using machine translation and design assignments and exams to practice and assess these skills. The results of the empirical study are used to reflect upon questions of what the roles of teachers and students are in a context where many of the skills that a person needs to be able to interact in a foreign language increasingly can be outsourced to laptops and smartphones.

Machine translation and the disruption of foreign language learning activities

This study examines the question of how language teachers in a highly technology-friendly university environment view machine translation and the implications that this has for the personal learning environments of students. It brings an activity-theory perspective to the question, examining the ways that the introduction of new tools can disrupt the relationship between different elements in an activity system. This perspective opens up for an investigation of the ways that new tools have the potential to fundamentally alter traditional learning activities. In questionnaires and group discussions, respondents showed general agreement that although use of machine translation by students could be considered cheating, students are bound to use it anyway, and suggested that teachers focus on the kinds of skills students would need when using machine translation and design assignments and exams to practice and assess these skills. The results of the empirical study are used to reflect upon questions of what the roles of teachers and students are in a context where many of the skills that a person needs to be able to interact in a foreign language increasingly can be outsourced to laptops and smartphones.

Natural Theology: A Reevaluation of Christianity's Relationship to the Natural World

In this thesis I offer two separate arguments for the creation of an environmentally friendly Christian theology. These arguments, although interconnected, are roughly divided into the main chapters of the thesis. I will begin in Chapter Two by offering a negative argument against the assumption that the natural world is sinful. In their article Hauerwas and Berkman suggest that the suffering of animals is both an example of the sinful state of the environment and a justification for human separation from an unholy natural environment. In response to this view I will argue in the second chapter that the suffering of animals can be seen as part of God's intentions for our world. Suffering, in both the human and the larger world, is not evidence of a fundamental flaw in natural systems. Instead, the cycle of death and life found in the natural world can be profoundly spiritual.

The relationship between board of director's nationality diversity and financial performance

Companies are moving to a more international structure; going into new markets and having an increased competition in all fronts. Therefore, the practices that lead companies to a more efficient and competitive position are praised. The management of the workforce comes as one of the main concerns of companies, aiming at performance enhancing and at creating better environments that both attract and maintain the professional talents. In an increasingly international environment, companies tend to look for the specialists and best professionals, regardless of their nationality. This new structure with several different nationalities working together poses new challenges for companies. Understanding if and how a more diverse has a relationship with financial performance is the starting point for better managing this new corporate structure.

Essays on economic growth

A fundamental question in development economics is why some economies are rich and others poor. To illustrate the income per capita gap across economies consider that the average gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of the richest 10 percent of economies in the year 2010 was a factor of 40-fold that of the poorest 10 percent of economies. In other words, the average person in a rich economy produces in just over 9 days what the average person in a poor economy produces in an entire year. What are the factors that can explain this difference in standard of living across the world today? With this in view, this dissertation is a conjunction of three essays on the economic growth field which we seek a possible responses to this question. The first essay investigates the existence of resource misallocation in the Brazilian manufacturing sector and measures possible distortions in it. Using a similar method of measurement to the one developed by Hsieh and Klenow (2009) and firm-level data for 1996-2011 we find evidence of misallocation in the manufacturing sector during the observed period. Moreover, our results show that misallocation has been growing since 2005, and it presents a non-smooth dynamic. Significantly, we find that the Brazilian manufacturing sector operates at about 50% of its efficient product. With this, if capital and labor were optimally reallocated between firms and sectors we would obtain an aggregate output growth of approximately 110-180% depending on the mode in which the capital share is measured. We also find that the economic crisis did not have a substantial effect on the total productivity factor or on the sector's misallocation. However, small firms in particular seem to be strongly affected in a global crisis. Furthermore, the effects described would be attenuated if we consider linkages and complementarity effects among sectors. Despite Brazil's well-known high tax burden, there is not evidence that this is the main source of resource misallocation. Moreover, there is a distinct pattern of structural change between the manufacturing sectors in industrialized countries and those in developing countries. Therefore, the second essay demonstrate that this pattern differs because there are some factors that distort the relative prices and also affect the output productivity. For this, we present a multi-sector model of economic growth, where distortions affect the relative prices and the allocation of inputs. This phenomenon imply that change of the production structure or perpetuation of the harmful structures to the growth rate of aggregate output. We also demonstrate that in an environment with majority decision, this distortion can be enhanced and depends on the initial distribution of firms. Furthermore, distortions in relative prices would lead to increases in the degree of misallocation of resources, and that imply that there are distinct patterns of structural changes between economies. Finally, the calibrated results of the framework developed here converge with the structural change observed in the firm-level data of the Brazilian manufacturing sector. Thereafter, using a cross-industry cross-country approach, the third essay investigates the existence of an optimal level of competition to enhance economic growth. With that in mind, we try to show that this optimal level is different from industrialized and under development economies due to the technology frontier distance, the terms of trade, and each economy's idiosyncratic characteristics. Therefore, the difference in competition industry-country level is a channel to explain the output for worker gap between countries. The theoretical and empirical results imply the existence of an inverted-U relationship between competition and growth: starting for an initially low level of competition, higher competition stimulates innovation and output growth; starting from a high initial level of competition, higher competition has a negative effect on innovation and output growth. Given on average industries in industrialized economies present higher competition level. With that if we control for the terms of trade and the industry-country fixed effect, if the industries of the developing economy operated under the same competition levels as of the industrialized ones, there is a potential increase of output of 0.2-1.0% per year. This effect on the output growth rate depends on the competition measurement used.

Animais não humanos: a construção da titularidade jurídica como novos sujeitos de direito

This work has the main goal on the recognition of the inherent value of nonhuman animals, under the constitutional framework. It is presented the main philosophical formulations of the current pattern of behavior that rules the relationship between man and animals: first those that have excluded animals from moral consideration and then the thinkers which do have included, in some way, in order to elucidate the origin of the anthropocentric thought over the natural world. In this way, the analysis these thinkers that have included animals in moral consideration will contribute to a paradigm change from the anthropocentric view, initiating legal debates. It will be made a simplified analysis of different philosophical and legal points of view that have been demonstrating the posture in which the human beings have been dealing with the environment, with the replacement of the anthropocentric thinking for the biocentric view, in which life becomes the center of existence. Life is life, no matter whether it is human or not, has a value in itself, and must be protected and respected by the legal system. Then, it will be analized the constitutionalization of the nonhuman animal dignity in comparative law; the infraconstitutional legislation which concerning the intrinsic value of all life forms and, finally, the 1988 Constitution. It will be advocated for non-human animals the condition of subjects, presenting some cases that the Habeas Corpus was used in animal defense. In this new Brazilian Habeas Corpus theory of for apes the argument of genetic proximity was used in order to overcome the literal meaning of natural person to achieve hominids in order to assure the fundamental right of physical freedom. It is realized that the fact that the great apes being recognized as a person does not preclude the possibility of other living beings be recognized as subjects of law. In this way, animals can be considered non-human subjects of law, according to the theory of depersonalized entities and may enjoy a legal category that allows a respect for existential minimum, and can hold constitutional fundamental rights

Mediação como instrumento de desjudicialização das questões familiares: constitucionalização do Direito de Família

The Liberal Constitutionalism emerged from the late eighteenth century, a period of major revolutions (French and American), fruit of the struggle for libertarian rights. Although the time of the first written constitutions, these were linked to mere political letters, did not provide for fundamental human rights, as it is, so only on the state organization, structure of powers, division of powers of the state and some relations between state and individuals. There was a clear division between the civil codes and constitutions, those governing private relations and acted as barriers to non-state intervention. After the Second World War, the constitutions are no longer Letters political order to establish how the human person, in order to enshrine the fundamental rights, the primacy of constitutional principles and take their normative function against ordinary legislator. Constitutional evolution gave the name of contemporary constitutionalism, based on repersonalization or despatrimonialização of Private Law, ceasing the separation of legislative civil codes and constitutions, in favor of the protection of fundamental rights of the human person. And this tendency to the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988 brought higher ground the dignity of the human person, the epicenter axiological legal to govern private relations, including family law. The constitutionalization of family law motivates the adoption of desjudicialização family issues, so as to respect the direio intimacy, privacy, private autonomy and access to justice. Conflictual family relationships require special treatment, given the diversity and dynamism of their new compositions. The break in the family relationship is guided in varied feelings among its members in order to hinder an end harmonic. Thus, the judiciary, through performances impositive, not to honor the power of decision of the parties, as also on the structural problems faced to operate on these cases, the environment is not the most appropriate to offer answers to the end of family quarrels. Situation that causes future demands on the dissatisfaction of the parties with the result. Before the development of the Family Law comes the need to adopt legal institutions, which monitor the socio-cultural, and that promote an effective assistance to people involved in this kind of conflict. In obedience to the private autonomy, before manifestations of volunteers involved in family mediation, among autocompositivos instruments of conflict resolution, is indicated as the most shaped the treatment of family quarrels. Remaining, then the state a minimal intervention to prevent excessive intrusion into private life and personal privacy

Cultura organizacional e comprometimento dos funcionários do Soleil Suíte Hotel

This study examines the relationship of the types of organizational culture perceived in a business hotel with the nature of the link between individual and organization. This linkage between commitment and organizational culture has been little explored, both national and international, requiring more studies. Thus, the survey was conducted in Soleil Suite Hotel, located on the beach of Ponta Negra, city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte. The independent variable of the proposed model was represented by the types of organizational culture, while the dependent variable was represented by the four dimensions of commitment. It was used in addition to the correspondence analysis, the arithmetic mean, the Pearson s correlation and the simple regression analysis. The results indicated the existence of relationship of the types of organizational culture with the kind of commitment shown by the officials, where the cultures of Group and Innovative, capable of generating an environment dedicated to the work as a team, the development and professional growth of the employees, as well as the creativity and individual freedom of each one to try new things, encourage the dominance of the dimensions Affective, Affiliative and Normative of the tie person-organization

The relationship between pasture degradation and soil properties in the Brazilian amazon: a case study

Pasture degradation is one of the greatest problems related to land use in the Amazon region, forcing farmers to open new forest areas. Many studies have identified the causes and the factors involved in this degradation process, in an attempt to reverse the situation. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between pasture degradation and some soil properties, to try to identify the most significant soil features in the degradation process. A cattle raising farm in the eastern Amazon region, with pastures of different ages and degrees of degradation, was used as the site for this study: a primary forest area, PN; three Guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq.) pastures in an increasingly degraded sequence-P1, P2 and P3; one Gamba grass (Andropogon gayanus Kunth) pasture following an extremely degraded Guinea grass pasture, P4. Aboveground phytomass data showed differences between the pastures, reflecting initially observed degradation levels. Grass biomass decreased sharply from P1 to P2 and disappeared at P3. Pasture recovery with Gamba grass at P4 was very successful, with grass biomass higher than P1 and weed biomass smaller than P2 and P3. Root biomass also decreased with pasture degradation. Soil bulk density increased with pasture decrease at the topsoil layer. Results from the soil chemical analysis showed that there were no signs of decrease in organic carbon and total nitrogen after the forest was transformed into pasture. In all pastures, degraded or not, the soil pH, the sum of bases and the saturation degree were higher than in the forest soil. The extractable phosphorus content, lower in forest soil, remained quite stable in pasture soils, but it could become a limiting factor for the maintenance of Guinea grass. Results indicated that pasture degradation does not seem to be directly related to the modification of the chemical features of soils. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Physical environment modulates the behavioral responses induced by chemical stimulation of dorsal periaqueductal gray in mice

In order to investigate the relationship between behaviors elicited by chemical stimulation of the dorsal periaqueductal gray (dorsal PAG) and spontaneous defensive behaviors to a predator, the excitatory amino acid D,L-homocysteic acid (5 nmol in 0.1 mu l), was infused into the dorsal PAG and behavioral responses of mice were evaluated in two different situations, a rectangular novel chamber or the Mouse Defense Test Battery (MDTB) apparatus. During a 1-min period following drug infusion, more jumps were made in the chamber than in the MDTB runway but running time and distance traveled were significantly higher in the runway. Animals were subsequently tested using the standard MDTB procedure (anti-predator avoidance, chase and defensive threat/attack). No drug effects on these measures were significant. In a further test in the MDTB apparatus, the pathway of the mouse during peak locomotion response was blocked 3 times by the predator stimulus (anesthetized rat) to determine if the mouse would avoid contact. Ninety percent of D,L-homocysteic treated animals made direct contact with the stimulus (rat), indicating that D,L-homocysteic-induced running is not guided by relevant (here, threat) stimuli. These results indicate that running as opposed to jumping is the primary response in mice injected with D,L-homocysteic into the dorsal PAG when the environment enables flight. However, the lack of responsivity to the predator during peak locomotion suggests that D,L-homocysteic-stimulation into the dorsal PAG does not induce normal antipredator flight. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.

A retórica em Aristóteles: da orientação das paixões ao aprimoramento da eupraxia

This research brings into focus the relationship between the work Rhetoric, from Aristotle, and the conceptions of ethics and practical wisdom of the philosopher from Stageira. Accordingly, it attempts to show that Aristotle's Rhetoric was produced to guide the construction and orientation of oratory passions of the Greek man, setting it as a reference for practices aimed at social ordering of the polis. In other words, the Aristotelian Rhetoric, designed by the author as the study of what is persuasive in every speech, is not composed with the meaning of persuasion at any cost, in another sense it is conceived by Aristotle as a useful knowledge for the improvement eupraxic (the good act in accordance with the fair and true). This research finds that such work has been prepared by Stagirite a time of strong social transformations and upheavals in ancient Greece: The skepticism expanded, with each person wanting to live their own businesses, and especially in Athens, a city that served as intellectual and political reference, there was a lack of collective spirit. In this tumultuous social environment, Aristotle, with a culture of Greeks eager Trusted reviews and socially shareable in the field of verisimilitude, sought with his Rhetoric, contributing to the development of ethics and political science; referrals for legal and organization of inter-social relations in varied environments, including seeking to provide knowledge about human passions and emotional status of active citizens in deliberative meetings

Experiências de inverno no seridó potiguar

The knowledge known as "winter experiences" has been developed for centuries among country people in the Brazilian Northeast hinterlands. It consists in the systematic observation of the nature to forecast and protect people against the effects of droughts. This knowledge is transmitted orally through generations. These experiences are guided by the observation of the behavior of fauna, flora, stars, the weather in the holy days and other very specific aspects of the lives of country people. Almost all country people living in the rural area know at least one experience, but the Prophets of Rain are known as the communicators of winter prophecies formulated from the observation of the experiences. The country person is identified as a Prophet of Rain because of his close relationship with nature and his ability to forecast. No matter if the prophecies are always right, he possesses a vital social role, as his practices contribute to prevent, ease and encourage other people. The main aim of this work is to analyze the role of the winter experiences for the country people in the Seridó Potiguar. In this sense, we sought to understand to what extent this knowledge still orients the productive practices of farmers living in this region and identify which factors instigate the observation of winter experiences nowadays. 241 questionnaires were applied to farmers in the rural cities of Acari, Caicó, Parelhas and Lagoa Nova and interviews were conducted with 15 Prophets in the Seridó. The methodological framework of this work is the analysis of content proposed by Bardin (2010). In this study area, the experiences exert influence and relevance to the country people in the Seridó, because they consider them as a way to ease their anguishes face the possible drought in the region. The major role of the Prophet is to feed the hope of country people for better days, rather than contribute for the organization of the productive activities. Among the interviewed people, the forecast from the observation of winter experiences have greater credibility than the meteorological and disseminated by media. The Prophets of Rain base their prophecies on the set of natural elements present in the environment. Many factors stimulate the winter experiences by the Prophets nowadays, as cultural transmission, age, relationship with nature, level of education, faith, among others, but specially the productive activities (agriculture and cattle raising) and the droughts. The winter means abundance and happiness in this region and the experience is one of the ways that people find to minimize the anxiety and, according to their possibilities, to prepare for a year of droughts or for winter

Weight width carapace relationship in the crab hepatus-pudibundus (herbst, 1785) (crustacea, decapoda, calappidae) of the Ubatuba region, SP, Brazil

In populational studies, the weight/width carapace relationship analysis, can furnish indications about the individual physiological variations as a function of the environment, and it can indicate sexual dimorphism. The goal of this research is to find the mathematical expressions of weight/width carapace relationship in the crab Hepatus pudibundus. This study was accomplished by analysing the crabs that were sampled monthly with a shrimp fishing boat equipped with 2 otter-trawl nets, during the period from november/1988 to october/1989. A total of 624 specimens were obtained composed of 244 males and 380 females. In each group the sex, the weight (PE) and the carapace width (LC) were determined. The obtained values agree with the studied range, showing variations during male and female development, represented by the potential function of the equation Y = aX(b). Such variations are probably related to reproductive strategies.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE PLASMA ENVIRONMENT AND THE COMPOSITION AND OPTICAL-PROPERTIES OF PLASMA-POLYMERIZED THIN-FILMS PRODUCED IN RF DISCHARGES OF C2H2-SF6 MIXTURES

Polymer films were grown in rf discharges containing different proportions of C2H2 and SF6. Quantitative optical emission spectrometry (actinometry) was used to follow the trends in the plasma concentrations of the species H and F, and more tentatively, of CH, CF, and CF2, as a function of the feed composition. Infrared spectroscopy revealed the density of CH and CF bonds in the deposited material. As the partial pressure of SF6 in the feed was increased, the degree of fluorination of the polymer also rose. The form of the dependency of the deposition rate on the proportion of SF6 in the feed was in good qualitative agreement with the activated growth model. From transmission ultraviolet visible spectroscopy data the refractive index and the absorption coefficient of the polymers were calculated as a function of the deposition parameters. Since the optical gap depended to some extent upon the degree of fluorination, it could, within limits, be determined by a suitable choice of the proportion of SF6 in the feed. A qualitative explanation of this relationship is given.