Physiological demands of competitive elite cross-country skiing

Introduction Researchers have, for decades, contributed to an increased collective understanding of the physiological demands in cross-country skiing; however, almost all of these studies have used either non-elite subjects and/or performances that emulate cross-country skiing. To establish the physiological demands of cross-country skiing, it is important to relate the investigated physiological variables to the competitive performance of elite skiers. The overall aim of this doctoral thesis was, therefore, to investigate the external validity of physiological test variables to determine the physiological demands in competitive elite cross-country skiing. Methods The subjects in Study I – IV were elite male (I – III) and female (III – IV) cross-country skiers. In all studies, the relationship between test variables (general and ski-specific) and competitive performances (i.e. the results from competitions or the overall ski-ranking points of the International Ski Federation (FIS) for sprint (FISsprint) and distance (FISdist) races) were analysed. Test variables reflecting the subject’s general strength, upper-body and whole-body oxygen uptake, oxygen uptake and work intensity at the lactate threshold, mean upper-body power, lean mass, and maximal double-poling speed were investigated. Results The ability to maintain a high work rate without accumulating lactate is an indicator of distance performance, independent of sex (I, IV). Independent of sex, high oxygen uptake in whole-body and upper-body exercise was important for both sprint (II, IV) and distance (I, IV) performance. The maximal double-poling speed and 60-s double-poling mean power output were indicators of sprint (IV) and distance performance (I), respectively. Lean mass was correlated with distance performance for women (III), whereas correlations were found between lean mass and sprint performance among both male and female skiers (III). Moreover, no correlations between distance performance and test variables were derived from tests of knee-extension peak torque, vertical jumps, or double poling on a ski-ergometer with 20-s and 360-s durations (I), whereas gross efficiency while treadmill roller skiing showed no correlation with either distance or sprint performance in cross-country skiing (IV). Conclusion The results in this thesis show that, depending on discipline and sex, maximal and peak oxygen uptake, work intensity at the lactate threshold, lean mass, double-poling mean power output, and double-poling maximal speed are all externally valid physiological test variables for evaluation of performance capability among elite cross-country skiers; however, to optimally indicate performance capability different test-variable expressions should be used; in general, the absolute expression appears to be a better indicator of competitive sprint performance whereas the influence of body mass should be considered when evaluating competitive distance performance capability of elite cross-country skiers.

Competitive equilibrium hyperinflation under rational expectations

This paper shows that a competitive equilibrium model, where a representative agent maximizes welfare, expectations are rational and markets are in equilibrium can account for several hyperinflation stylized facts. The theory is built by combining two hypotheses, namely, a fiscal crisis that requires printing money to finance an increasing public deficit and a predicted change in an unsustainable fiscal regime.

Optimal auctions with multidimensional types and the desirability of exclusion

Within the context of a single-unit, independent private values auction model, we show that if bidder types are multidimensional, then under the optimal auction exclusion of some bidder types will occur. A second contribution of the paper is methodological in nature. In particular, we identify conditions under which an auction model with multidimensional types can be reduced to a model with one dimensional types without loss of generality. Reduction results of this type have achieved the status of folklore in the mechanism design literature. Here, we provide a proof of the reduction result for auctions.

Taylor principle and inflation stability in emerging market countriesw

The goal of this paper is to evaluate the validity of the Taylor principle for inflation control in 12 developing countries that use inflation targeting regimes: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey. The test is based on a state-space model to determine when each country has followed the principle; then a threshold unit root test is used to verify if the stationarity of the deviation of the expected inflation from its target depends on compliance with the Taylor principle. The results show that such compliance leads to the stationarity of the deviation of the expected inflation from its target in all cases. Furthermore, in most cases, non-compliance with the Taylor principle leads to nonstationary deviation of the expected inflation.

Competitive equilibria in infinite-horizon collateralized economies with default penalties

Araújo, Páscoa and Torres-Martinez (2002) have shown that, without imposing either debt constraints or transversality conditions, Ponzi schemes are ruled out in infinite horizon economies with default when collateral is the only mechanism that partially secures loans. Páscoa and Seghir (2008) subsequently show that Ponzi schemes may reappear if, additionally to the seizure of the collateral, there are sufficiently harsh default penalties assessed (directly in terms of utility) against the defaulters. They also claim that if default penalties are moderate then Ponzi schemes are ruled out and existence of a competitive equilibrium is ensured. The objective of this paper is two fold. First, contrary to what is claimed by Páscoa and Seghir (2008), we show that moderate default penalties do not always prevent agents to run a Ponzi scheme. Second, we provide an alternative condition on default penalties that is sufficient to rule out Ponzi schemes and ensure the existence of a competitive equilibrium.

Cooperação e multi-level governance: o caso do Grande Recife Consórcio de Transporte Metropolitano

As primeiras regiões metropolitanas brasileiras foram instituídas de maneira vertical e autoritária como parte da estratégia de desenvolvimento nacional promovida pelo governo militar. Percebidas como instituições não-democráticas e rejeitadas como possível quarto ente federativo, as regiões metropolitanas, desde a Constituição de 1988, foram gradualmente esvaziadas dos seus propósitos originais. Em sua orfandade, os problemas socioeconômicos proliferaram e foram acentuados, e passaram a predominar relações intergovernamentais competitivas em vez de cooperativas. Um dos principais desafios enfrentados pelo modelo federalista brasileiro, em especial quando se trata destas regiões, está relacionado à necessidade de estabelecer maior cooperação e coordenação, tidas como imprescindíveis para garantir um relacionamento mais equilibrado entre os entes federativos, assim como para a efetiva implementação de políticas de enfrentamento das desigualdades e exclusão social nas aglomerações urbanas. Este trabalho analisa o Grande Recife Consórcio Metropolitano de Transportes (CMT), empresa pública multifederativa estabelecida em 2008 entre os governos municipais e estadual da Região Metropolitana de Recife (RMR). Responsável pelo planejamento, gestão e implementação compartilhada da política de transporte público coletivo na RMR, o Grande Recife se tornou realidade com a aprovação e regulamentação da Lei Federal nº 11.107 de 2005, conhecida como a Lei de Consórcios Públicos. O Grande Recife é uma experiência pioneira e inovadora, demonstrando que é possível encontrar uma maneira de superar conflitos e desafios comuns e, ao mesmo tempo, garantir a preservação da autonomia de cada ente, bem como os direitos cidadãos. Neste trabalho consideramos essa experiência de cooperação intergovernamental como um exemplo de multi-level governance (MLG), uma vez que é ilustrativa de um novo arranjo institucional democrático entre distintas esferas governamentais para a gestão compartilhada de um serviço público.

Sports administration: an examination of the competitive balance concept through european and brazilian domestic soccer leagues comparison

A questão do Equilíbrio Competitivo é um tema importante da economia dos esportes profissionais nos Estados Unidos e na Europa. Muitas pesquisas foram feitas para estabelecer os critérios mais relevantes para avaliar a competitividade das ligas profissionais de futebol. Esta pesquisa analisou a relevância do Equilíbrio Competitivo como determinante da competitividade comparando o Brasileirão Série A com as nove principais ligas na Europa (Bélgica, Inglaterra, Alemanha, Holanda, França, Itália, Portugal, Escócia e Espanha). A competitividade é a capacidade de uma empresa (um clube) ou de uma indústria de enfrentar a concorrência efetiva ou potencial. A medida da competitividade deve levar em consideração uma série de fatores importantes como a qualidade e a relação qualidade/preço, a gestão de recursos humanos e a organização empresarial. Esse trabalho visa demonstrar que, apesar da incerteza do resultado ter sido considerado por muito tempo como um fator positivo de atratividade/interesse dos fãs nos esportes, um campeonato equilibrado poderia ter um efeito insignificante, para não dizer desprezível sobre a competitividade das ligas de futebol a longo prazo. Os resultados mostraram que o aumento do Equilíbrio Competitivo pode ser relevante para os campeonatos mais fracos (Bélgica, Holanda, Portugal, Escócia), mas nao dos cincos melhores (Alemanha, Espanha, França, Inglaterra, Itália). Consequentemente, o Equilíbrio Competitivo deve ser contemplado como uma variável desprezível quanto à competitividade das ligas de futebol, apesar do interesse crescente pelo conceito na literatura. Baseado principalmente em pesquisas de Dell'Osso e Symanski (1991) e de Oughton e Michie (2004), o índice HHI (Herfindahl-Hirschman) tem sido utilizado para determinar o nível de concentração de 11 ligas de futebol estudadas. Uma revisão da literatura sobre administração de futebol e esportes foi realizada.

Revisiting competitive advantage: existence, dynamics, and new dimensions

Apesar da centralidade e relevância do conceito de Vantagem Competitiva em Administração de Empresas, o tema ainda é fonte de debate quanto ao seu significado, mensuração, manifestação e relação com o desempenho financeiro. Este trabalho contribui com esse debate avançando em vários pontos conceituais, metodológicos e empíricos. Por meio de uma sequência de três artigos, o conceito de vantagem competitiva é revisitado propondo-se novas dimensões, sua existência é quantificada usando um modelo Bayesiano, seu dinamismo caracterizado e, por fim, as novas dimensões propostas são testadas empiricamente. O primeiro artigo contribui teoricamente com a discussão do conceito de vantagem competitiva e sua relação com o desempenho financeiro a partir de uma abordagem de criação de valor econômico. Este artigo traz uma contribuição metodológica ao elaborar um modelo hierárquico Bayesiano bidimensional para medir a existência da vantagem competitiva a partir do desempenho financeiro e uma contribuição conceitual ao propor duas novas dimensões do conceito (momentum e consistência). O segundo artigo aplica o modelo proposto no primeiro a uma base de dados de empresas norte americana, cobrindo o período de 1995 a 2011. Esse artigo traz contribuições empíricas ao quantificar a existência e a dinâmica da vantagem competitiva oferecendo uma topografia do tema no mundo real. Os resultados indicam que a manifestação da vantagem competitiva não é tão rara quanto apontada em estudos anteriores e que o grau de raridade depende fortemente do setor. A implicação para a teoria e para a prática é uma revisão da importância do setor frente às teorias que focam os recursos internos da empresa, como a visão baseada em recursos. Os resultados também demonstram e caracterizam como lucratividade e crescimento são conjuntamente necessários para avaliar a presença da vantagem competitiva e influem na sua dinâmica de forma diferenciada. O terceiro artigo operacionaliza as novas dimensões do conceito de vantagem competitiva propostas no primeiro artigo e testa sua ocorrência e capacidade de prever a mobilidade do estado competitivo numa visão longitudinal. Os resultados indicam que a inclusão das novas dimensões potencializa a predição do status competitivo futuro das empresas.

Bertrand, Cournot and monopolistically competitive equilibria

Using an example, we study the analogs, for the differentiated product case, of the Cournot and Bertrand equilibria. These equilibria can be shown to exist and be uni que if we impose a sim pie and natural restriction on the elasticities of the demand functions for the differentiated products. Our characterizations of these equilibria make it possible to compare them and to determine how they are affected by the size of the market and the number of firms. We are also able to prove the existence of Cournot free-entry equilibria in which the number of firms is determined endogenously. In addition, we are able to prove that, in a large market, the Cournot free-entry equilibria approximate the Dixit-Stiglitz monopolistically competitive equilibria. The free-entry equilibrium concept we study is an analog of the one studied by Novshek for the case of firms selling products that are perfect substitutes. Our results are extensions of Novshek's. While we were unable to establish a general existence result for Bertrand free-entry equilibria, we were able to prove that, when these equilibria exist, they are unique and that in large markets they also approximate the Dixit-Stiglitz equilibria.

A competitive growth model with endogenous fertility

This paper investigates the interaction between endogenous fertility behavior and the distribution of income and wealth arnong farnilies in a competitive market economy. We construct a growth model in which altruistic dynasties are heterogeneous in their initial stocks of physical capital. Dynasties make choices of farnily size along with decisions about consumption and intergenerational transfers. We show that if the rate of time preference is increasing in the number of children and preferences over nurnber of children satisfy a norrnality assumption, all steady states are characterized by equality of capital stocks and consumption arnong families. We also provide sufficient conditions for uniqueness of the steady state. In order to illustrate these results, we present an example in which preferences over number of children are logarithrnic and the technology is Cobb-Douglas. For this combination of preferences and technology, there exists a unique egalitarian steady state. Moreover, the economy converges to this steady state in only one generation .

Existence of nash equilibrium in competitive nonlinear pricing games with adverse selection

We show that for a large class of competitive nonlinear pricing games with adverse selection, the property of better-reply security is naturally satisfied - thus, resolving via a result due to Reny (1999) the issue of existence of Nash equilibrium for a large class of competitive nonlinear pricing games.

Relação entre stakeholders, recursos estratégicos e sustentabilidade em uma organização atuante na cadeia de valor da indústria brasileira de energia eólica

This paper approaches the strategy in business management and aimed at identifying and outlining the interests and commitment of stakeholders in strategic resources management concerning production and implementation of wind turbine equipment of a Brazilian wind power company and also verifying if internal and external results deriving from such activities were sustainable, taking as main reference seminal publications and periodicals relevant to the research point that discuss the Resource Theory, Stakeholders and Sustainability. An analysis was carried out to assess how stakeholders, beyond the temporal context, intermediated the composition, development and management of the organization´s resources, as well as the social, environmental and economic results obtained from resources management in the production and supply of wind turbines to a Wind Power Plant located in the State of Ceara, in order to portray that Brazil sustainability can be an important competitive advantage source that creates value for shareholders and the community (Hart & Milstein, 2003). The strategy herein applied was the qualitative investigation using a single study case, which allowed for the thorough examination of an active organization operating in the Brazilian industry of wind power and also the resources used in the production and implementation of wind turbines supplied to the a Wind Power Plant in Ceara. Considering the content analysis and the triangulation principle, three qualitative data collection methods were applied to identify and characterize stakeholders’ interest and commitment in resource management of the organization operating in the Brazilian wind power industry, as follows, semistructured deep interview with managers of tactic-strategic level and analysts of organization´s value chain nine activities, analysis of public internal and external documents; and analysis of audio-visual material. Nonetheless, to identify the internal and external economic, social and environmental results of implementation and supply of wind turbines to the Wind Power Plant in Ceara, semistructured interviews were also carried out with the residents of the region. Results showed the BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank) and the organization head office were the stakeholders who exerted the strongest influence on resources related to production and implementation of the aerogenerator product at Trairi Wind Plant in Ceara. Concerning the organization resources, at the current stage of the Brazilian Wind Industry ,although the brand, reliability and reputation of the organization under study were valuable esources, rare, hard to imitate and exploited by the organization, it was noticed that opposed to RBV, they did not actually represent a source of competitive advantage . For the local community the social, economic and environmental results related to the wind turbines implementation were more positive than negative, despite the fact that the productive process caused negative environmental impacts such as the high emission of CO2 to transport wind turbines components to Trairi Wind Power Plant.

The risk-incentive trade-off in competitive search

Usando a abordagem de competitive search, modelo um mercado de trabalho com trabalhadores heterogêneos no qual há um problema de risco moral na relação entre firmas e trabalhadores. Nesse contexto, consigo prever como contratos reagem a mudanças nos parâmetros do mercado (em particular, o risco de produção), assim como a variação da probabilidade dos trabalhadores serem contratados. Minha contribuição principal é ver que, no nível individual, existe uma relação negativa entre risco e incentivos, mas efeitos de equilíbrio geral implicam que essa relação pode ser positiva no nível agregado. Esse resultado ajuda a esclarecer resultados empíricos contraditórios sobre a relação entre risco e incentivos.