The impact of privatisation on the banking sector in the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

New technologies and methodologies for intervention to promote development

Includes bibliography

Uso de modelos estatísticos para dados de escore de crédito de uma instituição financeira

Pós-graduação em Engenharia de Produção - FEB

The United States subprime mortgage crisis and its implications for the Caribbean

The bursting of the property bubble – subprime mortgage crisis – in 2007 in the United States has engendered panic, recession fears and turmoil in the global financial system. Although the United States economy grew by 0.6 per cent in the last quarter of 2007, down from 4.9 per cent in the previous quarter, day by day worsening scenarios emerge, from escalating oil prices, to a depreciating dollar and financial institutions’ bailout by the Federal Reserve. Many economists and policy makers share the view that a subprime-led recession – i.e. two consecutive quarters with negative growth – is inevitable and will be much deeper and longer than the 2001 dot-com downturn. Moreover, the critical situation of the financial system has driven some analysts to argue that should the monetary policy response fails to restore confidence among investors, the outcome would be the worst crisis seen since the Great Depression. This pessimism is not only among specialists. Indeed, in late March 2008 the Consumer Confidence Index in the United States recorded its lowest level since February 1992. A recession in the United States will undoubtedly have an important impact on the world economy, despite the continuous rapid growth experienced by emerging economies, particularly China and India. The purpose of this article is threefold: first, to characterize the current situation in the United States economy; second, to discuss the economic policy responses; and finally, to elaborate on how Caribbean economies may be affected.

Financiamento internacional para o setor agroindustrial no Mato Grosso: uma oportunidade para conservação?

Uma das principais tendências mundiais ligadas ao processo de globalização é a expansão da agroindústria nos trópicos úmidos. Embora a agroindústria seja uma importante fonte de renda para o Brasil, a sua expansão está levando ao deslocamento das populações locais e ao desmatamento extensivo da vegetação primária. Nesse contexto, enfocamos uma segunda tendência, também resultante da globalização, que consiste no movimento das instituições financeiras em direção à responsabilidade social e ambiental, evidenciado pela inclusão de condições socioambientais nos empréstimos para o setor agrícola. Nesse trabalho, examinamos a experiência de empréstimo da Corporação Financeira Internacional ao Grupo Maggi do Brasil analisando o potencial desse tipo de instrumento econômico para ajudar a reduzir os impactos negativos da expansão agroindustrial. Também é enfocado como os diferentes atores que participam desse debate (organizações não governamentais, indústrias, setor financeiro e governo) podem ajudar a otimizar esse potencial.

Associações rurais e associativismo no Nordeste amazônico: uma relação nem sempre correspondida

O presente estudo, feito em 2005, baseia-se em entrevistas com líderes de quarenta e três associações do Nordeste do Estado do Pará. Constatou-se que essa modalidade jurídica de cooperação, oficialmente privilegiada, tem passado ao largo das formas de organização espontâneas consagradas pela tradição camponesa e firmadas em laços de confiança, fidelidade e co-responsabilidade. As associações estudadas, muitas vezes, resumiam-se a meros grupos formais, e a elas cumpria estabelecer ou acompanhar contratos entre instituições financeiras, organizações públicas e privadas e os grupos camponeses. As associações que melhor alcançavam os resultados econômicos, políticos ou culturais almejados eram as que tinham vivenciado, anteriormente a sua constituição, algumas atividades coletivas ou comunitárias, isto é, aquelas que já tinham praticado uma forma de associativismo envolvendo um compromisso efetivo entre os membros. Essas contradições, vividas pelas comunidades tradicionais na ocasião de sua inserção no sistema institucional moderno, merecem atenção.

Caminhos da política de saúde no Brasil: determinantes da “universalização excludente” em curso

O interesse deste estudo foi, de modo geral, poder identificar como o modelo privatista influenciou as ações da política pública de saúde no Brasil, como se deram os impactos da política macroeconômica neste sentido. Um dos pontos chave a ser verificado gira em torno da desigualdade de acesso da população ao serviço de saúde, com a não concretização da universalidade, gerando um processo denominado “universalização excludente”. Esse processo que consiste na migração de usuários do SUS para as operadoras de planos de saúde privados contribui para a mudança da racionalidade da saúde como direito para a racionalidade da eficiência, a racionalidade burguesa. Parte-se do referencial da Reforma Sanitária brasileira, como um marco da luta dos movimentos sociais pela democratização no país e como ponto inicial do reconhecimento da saúde enquanto direito de todos e dever do Estado, buscando fazer um resgate histórico deste movimento. Tem, ainda, como referência o pressuposto da minimização da atuação do Estado no trato às políticas sociais e a interferência direta de grandes organismos financeiros internacionais na condução do modo de fazer política de saúde, a exemplo do Banco Mundial. Esta consiste em uma pesquisa qualitativa, de cunho teórico, com o objetivo de proporcionar subsídios para a discussão do tema da política de saúde no Brasil, bem como promover e ampliar o debate teórico acerca da função que o Estado desempenha no modo de pensar e executar essa política.

As decisões de investimento e a instabilidade financeira

Initially, the text handles the theories of ancient classical and changes with the emerging of the debates of the schools of economic of Keynes and Kalecki. Over the years, from 1930 onwards, investment theories were debated and modified by various schools of economic thought. One of the debates that stands out in this work are the theories of Minsky that will bring new reformulations to Keynesian theory and a greater focus on psychological factors as determinants of investment decisions. Through financial instability hypothesis Minsky explains how the decisions to invest and the access to credit cause instability to financial system. Finally the work will show how access to credit is material when companies decide to invest and how these investments are often handled due to information asymmetries in the market. The financial institutions seek to maximize their profits while dribbling moral hazard and adverse selection, and thus the government needs to intervene once in a while as a regulator to maintain the solvency of the system

Recuperação de dados da operacionalização de programas governamentais: um estudo do Programa Nacional de Fortalecimento da Agricultura Familiar (PRONAF)

Pós-graduação em Ciência da Informação - FFC

Eficiência bancária no Brasil: uma análise envoltória de dados (DEA)

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

A inserção social do banco dos cocais no município de São João do Arraial - PI

Pós-graduação em Geografia - IGCE

Two and a Half Cheers for the Midwestern Bourgeoisie: Role of the Virtues in Tempering Business Decisions

A recent book (The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce, D. N. McCloskey), raises the matter of the role of the virtues in business and economic choice, arguing that capitalism can indeed, be virtuous or at least better than the alternative(s). This argument is especially timely in light of the apparent excesses on Wall Street and in some banking/financial institutions. Excessive greed and often the lack of business ethics contributed in substantive ways to the financial crisis and near economic meltdown we have been experiencing. As McCloskey, (2006, pp. 1-2) argues (in setting the stage for the complex argument made in this 616-page book!): “The book … is directed toward you who are suspicious of the phrase ‘bourgeois virtues,’ pretty sure that it is a contradiction in terms. And the book is directed, with less optimism about changing their minds, toward you who think the phrase is worse: a lie. ‘Bourgeois virtues’ is neither. The claim here is that modern capitalism does not need to be offset to be good. Capitalism can on the contrary be virtuous. In a fallen world bourgeois life is not perfect. But it’s better than any available alternative. American capitalism needs to be inspirited, moralized, completed. Two and a half cheers for the Midwestern bourgeoisie (middle-class, small business owners…. yet)… Many a businessman is an ethical shell or worse. Even the virtues of the bourgeoisie, … do not lead straight to heaven.”

Ownership, Multiple Blockholders and Performance: A study of the Indonesian Banking Industry

The objective of this study is to provide empirical evidence on how ownership structure and owner’s identity affect performance, in the banking industry by using a panel of Indonesia banks over the period 2000–2009. Firstly, we analysed the impact of the presence of multiple blockholders on bank ownership structure and performance. Building on multiple agency and principal-principal theories, we investigated whether the presence and shares dispersion across blockholders with different identities (i.e. central and regional government; families; foreign banks and financial institutions) affected bank performance, in terms of profitability and efficiency. We found that the number of blockholders has a negative effect on banks’ performance, while blockholders’ concentration has a positive effect. Moreover, we observed that the dispersion of ownership across different types of blockholders has a negative effect on banks’ performance. We interpret such results as evidence that, when heterogeneous blockholders are present, the disadvantage from conflicts of interests between blockholders seems to outweigh the advantage of the increase in additional monitoring by additional blockholder. Secondly, we conducted a joint analysis of the static, selection, and dynamic effects of different types of ownership on banks’ performance. We found that regional banks and foreign banks have a higher profitability and efficiency as compared to domestic private banks. In the short-run, foreign acquisitions and domestic M&As reduce the level of overhead costs, while in the long-run they increase the Net Interest Margin (NIM). Further, we analysed NIM determinants, to asses the impact of ownership on bank business orientation. Our findings lend support to our prediction that the NIM determinants differs accordingly to the type of bank ownership. We also observed that banks that experienced changes in ownership, such as foreign-acquired banks, manifest different interest margin determinants with respect to domestic or foreign banks that did not experience ownership rearrangements.

The Law and Economics of Hedge Fund Regulation: A Comparison between the U.S. and the EU

This doctoral dissertation seeks to assess and address the potential contribution of the hedge fund industry to financial instability. In so doing, the dissertation investigates three main questions. What are the contributions of hedge funds to financial instability? What is the optimal regulatory strategy to address the potential contribution of hedge funds to financial instability? And do new regulations in the U.S. and the EU address the contribution of hedge funds to financial instability? With respect to financial stability concerns, it is argued that despite their benefits, hedge funds can contribute to financial instability. Hedge funds’ size and leverage, their interconnectedness with Large Complex Financial Institutions (LCFIs), and the likelihood of herding behavior in the industry can potentially undermine financial stability. Nonetheless, the data on hedge funds’ size and leverage suggest that these features are far from being systemically important. In contrast, the empirical evidence on the interconnectedness of hedge funds with LCFIs and their herding behavior is mixed. Based on these findings, the thesis focuses on one particular aspect of hedge fund regulation: direct vs. indirect regulation. In this respect, a major contribution of the thesis to the literature consists in the explicit discussion of the relationships between hedge funds and other market participants. Specifically, the thesis locates the domain of the indirect regulation in the inter-linkages between hedge funds and prime brokers. Accordingly, the thesis argues that the indirect regulation is likely to address the contribution of hedge funds to systemic risk without compromising their benefits to financial markets. The thesis further conducts a comparative study of the regulatory responses to the potential contribution of hedge funds to financial instability through studying the EU Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFMD) and the hedge fund-related provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.