Urban containment: An effective tool for environmental protection?

This paper examines the effectiveness of urban containment policies to protect forestland from residential conversion and to increase the provision of forest public goods in the presence of irreversible investments and policy uncertainty. We develop a model of a single landowner that allows for switching between competing land uses (forestry and residential use) at some point in the future. Our results show that urban containment policies can protect (even if temporarily) forestland from being developed but must be supplemented with policies that influence the length and number of harvesting cycles if the goal is to increase nontimber benefits. The threat of a development prohibition creates incentives for preemptive timber harvesting and land conversion. In particular, threatened regulation creates an incentive to shorten rotation cycles to avoid costly land-use restrictions. However, it has an ambiguous effect on forestland conversion as the number of rotation cycles can also be adjusted to maximize the expected returns to land. Finally, in the presence of irreversibility, forestland conversion decisions should be done using real option theory rather than net present value analysis

Um antropólogo fazedor de objectos

Texto publicado nas versões portuguesa e inglesa do catálogo da exposição retrospectiva - série don't look back - da obra de Fernando Brízio, realizada no quadro da bienal de 2011 da experimentadesign.

Optimização do processo de devolução de medicamentos fora do prazo de validade

RESUMO - Durante todo o seu ciclo de vida, o medicamento está sujeito a padrões de qualidade, segurança e eficácia, alicerçados numa atuação conjunta dos responsáveis pela sua colocação no mercado, das autoridades competentes nacionais e comunitárias. Os diferentes intervenientes estão sujeitos a um conjunto de obrigações e procedimentos que englobam também a sua fase final de retirada do mercado, devolução, recolha e valorização ou reciclagem. Neste trabalho é caracterizada a cadeia de distribuição do medicamento assim como o seu fluxo físico no sentido inverso, ou seja, o processo de devolução e de tratamento ambientalmente adequado para os resíduos de medicamentos. A maioria da literatura a respeito das devoluções de medicamentos enfatiza a vertente ecológica do sistema de logística inversa. Neste trabalho, as questões ambientais são discutidas , mas o objectivo primário focaliza questões económicas relacionadas com o processo de devoluções. São apresentadas as possíveis vantagens teóricas da criação de um sistema centralizado de gestão de devoluções, por oposição ao atual sistema de circuitos dispersos. Com a aplicação de um inquérito a armazenistas com larga responsabilidade no processo de devoluções, pretendeu-se avaliar os custos inerentes ao atual modelo. Os resultados obtidos indicam que existe margem potencial para reduzir custos neste processo, para a grande maioria dos armazenistas. Na área específica dos medicamentos fora de prazo de validade, o crescente desenvolvimento e aperfeiçoamento dos processos de devolução poderá direcionar-se no sentido da criação de centrais de devolução centralizadas.

Auto industry bailout: too big to fail. To big for whom?

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Hedging in a discontinuous market: the barrier option

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Determinants of exchange rates: An empirical analysis

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Corporate social responsibility levels and firm performance: Evidence from countries in crisis

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Social entrepreneurship as a solution provider for ageing societies in Europe

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Narrative Bifurcation, Cloud Computing Interfaces and Hitchcok

From a narratological perspective, this paper aims to address the theoretical issues concerning the functioning of the so called «narrative bifurcation» in data presentation and information retrieval. Its use in cyberspace calls for a reassessment as a storytelling device. Films have shown its fundamental role for the creation of suspense. Interactive fiction and games have unveiled the possibility of plots with multiple choices, giving continuity to cinema split-screen experiences. Using practical examples, this paper will show how this storytelling tool returns to its primitive form and ends up by conditioning cloud computing interface design.

Drivers of participation in collaborative consumption ventures

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

A distributed platform for the volunteer execution of workflows on a local area network

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Computer Science

Interactive spatial decision support for sustainable agroforestry management: a case study in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

Forest managers, stakeholders and investors want to be able to evaluate economic, environmental and social benefits in order to improve the outcomes of their decisions and enhance sustainable forest management. This research developed a spatial decision support system that provides: (1) an approach to identify the most beneficial locations for agroforestry projects based on the biophysical properties and evaluate its economic, social and environmental impact; (2) a tool to inform prospective investors and stakeholders of the potential and opportunities for integrated agroforestry management; (3) a simulation environment that enables evaluation via a dashboard with the opportunity to perform interactive sensitivity analysis for key parameters of the project; (4) a 3D interactive geographic visualization of the economic, environmental and social outcomes, which facilitate understanding and eases planning. Although the tool and methodology presented are generic, a case study was performed in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. For the whole study area, it was simulated the most suitable location for three different plantation schemes: monoculture of timber, a specific recipe (cassava, banana and sugar palm) and different recipes per geographic unit. The results indicate that a mixed cropping plantation scheme, with different recipes applied to the most suitable location returns higher economic, environmental and social benefits.

The role of deposit insurance and bank’s asset size in the 2008 financial crisis

In this paper we analyze the role of deposit insurance in providing the market with liquidity in times of financial turmoil. To do so, we look at the variation in insured and uninsured deposits between 2005Q3 and 2011Q3, controlling for liquidity, solvency and capital adequacy indicators, and find evidence that deposit insurance does provide some confidence in keeping funds in banks in times of turmoil. Additionally we follow an event study methodology to assess the impact of deposit insurance oriented policies on bank holding companies stock market returns, and find a TBTF effect.

Empirical evidences on voluntary delisting phenomenon

The paper studies what drives firms to voluntary delist from capital markets and what differs in firms’ behavior and fundamentals between public-to-private transactions and M&A deals with listed corporations. Moreover, I study the relationship between ownership percentage in controlling shareholders’ hands and cumulative returns around the delisting public announcement. I perform my tests both for the Italian and the US markets and I compare the findings to better understand how the phenomenon works in these different institutional environments. Consistent with my expectations, I find that the likelihood of delisting is mainly related to size, underperformance and undervaluation, while shareholders are more rewarded when their companies are involved in PTP transactions than in M&As with public firms.

Long-run performance of sovereign rating changes

This paper examines the impact of Sovereign rating changes on the aggregate stock and bond market returns both in emerging and developed countries. Rating downgrades in emerging markets are associated with significant negative wealth effects both in the stock and bond markets. Moreover, the effects of rating downgrades persist up to six-months after the event. In contrast, upgrades in emerging markets convey no information. Rating changes in developed markets have no significant impact on either stock and bond market returns. Rating agencies act pro-cyclically, downgrading countries in bad times and, consequently, contributing to the instability in emerging markets.