Are returns on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), FDI determinants?

Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) acquired an important role in the development process of the global economy. FDI inward stock was equivalent to an average of 32% of GDP for OECD countries in 2013. However, FDI affects a country’s Balance of Payments (BoP) in two ways: FDI flows are recorded in the BoP financial account while returns on FDI affect the BoP current account. Therefore, part of the positive contribution of inward FDI to a country on its financial account could be potentially offset by a negative contribution of FDI returns on the current account. The intent of this work is to complement the research on FDI determinants by introducing FDI returns as a variable in a gravity model where bilateral FDI outflows are the dependent variable. Moreover, using outward FDI flows as the dependent variable, the work allows looking at the behavior of Multinational Corporations (MNC) investing abroad. The results show that MNCs repatriate returns generating from the investments they make abroad. This is particularly true when high-income countries are involved: MNCs from high-income countries repatriate returns to their home countries from FDI made anywhere, while MNCs from middle-income countries repatriate returns from FDI in high-income countries. Repatriated returns are a relevant variable determining the value of FDI that a country makes in another country. The information on FDI returns is starting to become available to the public. This allows MNCs to sharpen their investment location decision models and national IPAs to better assess the two-fold BoP effects of promoting FDI.

Homogeneous middles vs. heterogeneous tails, and the end of the ‘Inverted-U’: the share of the rich is what it’s all about

This paper examines the current global scene of distributional disparities within-nations. There are six main conclusions. First, about 80 per cent of the world’s population now live in regions whose median country has a Gini not far from 40. Second, as outliers are now only located among middle-income and rich countries, the ‘upwards’ side of the ‘Inverted-U’ between inequality and income per capita has evaporated (and with it the statistical support there was for the hypothesis that posits that, for whatever reason, ‘things have to get worse before they can get better’). Third, among middle-income countries Latin America and mineral-rich Southern Africa are uniquely unequal, while Eastern Europe follows a distributional path similar to the Nordic countries. Fourth, among rich countries there is a large (and growing) distributional diversity. Fifth, within a global trend of rising inequality, there are two opposite forces at work. One is ‘centrifugal’, and leads to an increased diversity in the shares appropriated by the top 10 and bottom 40 per cent. The other is ‘centripetal’, and leads to a growing uniformity in the income-share appropriated by deciles 5 to 9. Therefore, half of the world’s population (the middle and upper-middle classes) have acquired strong ‘property rights’ over half of their respective national incomes; the other half, however, is increasingly up for grabs between the very rich and the poor. And sixth, Globalisation is thus creating a distributional scenario in which what really matters is the income-share of the rich — because the rest ‘follows’ (middle classes able to defend their shares, and workers with ever more precarious jobs in ever more ‘flexible’ labour markets). Therefore, anybody attempting to understand the within-nations disparity of inequality should always be reminded of this basic distributional fact following the example of Clinton’s campaign strategist: by sticking a note on their notice-boards saying “It’s the share of the rich, stupid”.

Avaliação dos impactos do programa bolsa família na renda, na educação e no mercado de trabalho das famílias pobres do Brasil

This study aims to verify the impact of the Bolsa Família Program (BFP) in income and school attendance of poor Brazilian families. It is intended to also check the existence of a possible negative effect of the program on the labor market, titled as sloth effect. For such, microdata from the IBGE Census sample in 2010 were used. Seeking to purge possible selection biases, methodology of Quantilic Treatment Effect (QTE) was applied, in particular the estimator proposed by Firpo (2007), which assumes an exogenous and non-conditional treatment. Moreover, Foster- Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) index was calculated to check if there are fewer households below the poverty line, as well as if the inequality among the poor decreases. Human Opportunity Index (HOI) was also calculated to measure the access of young people / children education. Results showed that BFP has positively influenced the family per capita income and education (number of children aged 5-17 years old attending school). As for the labor market (worked hours and labor income), the program showed a negative effect. Thus, when compared with not benefiting families, those families who receive the BFP have: a) a higher family income (due to the shock of the transfer budget money) b) more children attending school (due to the conditionality imposed by the program); c) less worked hours (due to sloth effect in certain family groups) and d) a lower income from work. All these effects were potentiated separating the sample in the five Brazilian regions, being observed that the BFP strongly influenced the Northeast, showing a greater decrease in income inequality and poverty, and at the same time, achieved a greater negative impact on the labor market

Rendimento acadêmico e sua relação com os estilos de personalidade de estudantes universitários

One of the Psychology challenges, especially among the assessment and educational areas, is to understand and predict individual differences. In this context, this research aimed to verify the personality styles of students with high and low academic performance. The study included 236 university students from Petrolina-PE and Juazeiro-BA campus of the UNIVASF (Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco). They were uniformly distributed in four disciplines (medicine, psychology, administration and civil engineering), 10 students from each semester (five highest scores average students and five lowest scores average students) took place of the sample. The Millon Index Personality Styles (MIPS) was applied to analyze the personality/behavioral styles of the students. The MIPS is a 180 dichotomous (true/false) item scale. It was also developed and applied a questionnaire about the students characteristics and their academic information. Descriptive and central tendency statistics analysis (mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage) were done to provide sample information. Then we performed a Mann-Whitney test in the overall sample and in each course and a factorial ANOVA. The results suggest that the university population is heterogeneous and there are significant differences (p <0.05) between the personality styles of students with high and low academic performance, when analyzing the overall sample and in courses of different areas of knowledge. Students of Medicine who have higher performance as personality styles prevalent the conformism and compliance, while students with lower income in this course, the styles are: innovation and discrepancy. Psychology students with higher income are more systematic and lower income students to score significantly on accommodation. The civil engineering students of the two groups differed only in personality style intuition, being such a style more characteristic of higher income students. Students of Management with higher yield stand out more in the style of the doubt and lower yields in these styles: individual, reflection and discrepancy. This study is correlational, but had an exploratory nature because there are no studies about this relationship in Brazil. Therefore, it provided a better understanding of the action characteristics of students with high and low academic performance. Further studies using the Big Five Personality Factors instruments are required because it is the most used model in understanding the influence of personality on students performance. This way, the relation between personality and academic performance will be better discussed. Otherwise, it will be possible to compare with the existing studies in the area

Qualidade de vida no transtorno obsessivo-compulsivo: uma revisão

CONTEXTO: O transtorno obsessivo-compulsivo (TOC) foi considerado pela Organização Mundial da Saúde como a 10ª causa de anos vividos com incapacidade, mas pesquisas sobre qualidade de vida (QV) nesse transtorno ainda são relativamente raras. OBJETIVOS: O objetivo deste trabalho foi fazer uma revisão convencional da literatura a respeito de estudos sobre qualidade de vida no TOC, publicados em português e inglês. MÉTODOS: A busca de artigos foi feita pelos sistemas MEDLINE, PsicoInfo e LILACS, cobrindo o período de 1980 a 2007, utilizando-se como palavras-chave: qualidade de vida, transtorno obsessivo-compulsivo, prejuízo funcional e incapacidade. RESULTADOS: Estudos populacionais apresentam indicadores indiretos de comprometimento na QV em pessoas com TOC, como mais desemprego, menor renda e menor índice de união conjugal estável, além de taxas relativamente altas de ideação e tentativas de suicídio. Estudos clínicos encontraram mais comprometimento na QV no TOC em comparação com algumas doenças clínicas crônicas, outros transtornos de ansiedade, quadros depressivos e mesmo esquizofrenia, em alguns aspectos. CONCLUSÃO: O impacto negativo do TOC sobre a QV de seus portadores pode ser grande, afetando vários domínios da vida e repercutindo também nos familiares. A reabilitação psicossocial deve ser vista como parte integrante essencial do tratamento e é preciso aumentar a conscientização da população sobre o problema, assim como o acesso a tratamentos adequados, para minimizar tal impacto, por vezes devastador.

Transtornos mentais comuns e uso de psicofármacos: impacto das condições socioeconômicas

OBJETIVO: Avaliar a influência das condições socioeconômicas na associação entre transtornos mentais comuns, uso de serviços de saúde e de psicofármacos. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal populacional conduzido na cidade de Botucatu, SP, com amostragem probabilística, estratificada e por conglomerados. Foram realizadas entrevistas domiciliares com 1.023 sujeitos de 15 anos ou mais de idade, entre 2001 e 2002. Transtorno mental comum foi avaliado utilizando o Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). O uso de serviços foi investigado com relação à quinzena anterior à entrevista e uso de psicotrópicos, nos três dias anteriores. Utilizou-se regressão logística para análise multivariável, considerando o efeito do desenho. RESULTADOS: No total da amostra, 13,4% (IC 95%: 10,7;16,0) procuraram serviços de saúde na quinzena anterior à entrevista. A procura de serviços de saúde se associou ao sexo feminino (OR=2,0) e à presença de transtorno mental comum (OR=2,2). Na amostra 13,3% (IC 95%: 9,2;17,5) referiram ter usado ao menos um psicotrópico, destacando-se os antidepressivos (5,0%) e os benzodiazepínicos (3,1%). Na análise multivariável, sexo feminino e presença de transtorno mental comum mantiveram-se associados ao uso de benzodiazepínicos. Renda per capita mostrou-se direta e independentemente associada ao uso de psicofármacos, conforme aumento da renda. CONCLUSÕES: Menor renda associou-se à presença de transtorno mental comum, mas não ao uso de psicotrópicos. A associação entre transtorno mental comum e uso de psicotrópicos e maior renda reforça a hipótese da existência de iniqüidades no acesso à assistência médica na população estudada.

Walking for leisure among adults from three Brazilian cities and its association with perceived environment attributes and personal factors

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Malnutrition in the second year of life and psychosocial care: a case-control study in an urban area of Southeast Brazil

O objetivo do estudo foi identificar e medir a presença de associação entre cuidado psicossocial e desnutrição. Realizou-se estudo caso-controle incluindo 101 crianças desnutridas (peso/idade < percentil 5 do padrão NCHS/OMS), com idades entre 12 e 23 meses, que foram comparadas a 200 controles eutróficos (peso/ idade > percentil 25) em termos de sua exposição a uma série de comportamentos maternos indicadores da qualidade de seu cuidado psicossocial. Criou-se um escore de cuidado psicossocial, variando de 0 a 14, de acordo com o número de comportamentos maternos desejáveis não observados: quanto maior o escore, pior a qualidade do cuidado psicossocial. Mediante análise de regressão logística verificou-se maior risco de desnutrição para as crianças no 2º e 3º tercis do escore de cuidado psicossocial. Esta associação foi modificada pela renda per capita. Após ajustes para possíveis confundidores, nas crianças dos estratos superiores de renda não houve associação entre cuidado psicossocial e desnutrição. Para as crianças com nível mais baixo de renda, pior cuidado psicossocial dobrou o risco de desnutrição (OR = 7,26; IC95%: 2,42-21,82) em relação àquele associado apenas à baixa renda (OR = 3,08; IC95%: 1,28-7,42).

Fatores associados ao tabagismo em idosos: Inquérito de Saúde no Estado de São Paulo (ISA-SP)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Social Panorama of Latin America 2011

Includes bibliography

Analysis of the effects of trade opening on household welfare: an application to Chile, 1999-2006

Incluye bibliografía

Analysis of the effects of trade opening on household welfare: an application to Chile, 1999-2006

Includes bibliography

International financial reform: a broad agenda

Includes bibliography

Bond markets for Latin American debt in the 1990s

Includes bibliography

Lifestyle factors and socioeconomic variables associated with abdominal obesity in Brazilian adolescents

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)