Bailey's measure of the welfare costs of infiation as a general-equilibrium measure

Lucas (2000) has ShO\nl t hat Baile,\"'s formula for t hc \\'elfare costs of inflatioIl caIl bc rcgardpd as an approximation to t hc gcneral-equilibriuIll IllCaSllH'S \\"hich emerge from thc Sidrauski anrl the shopping-time models, In this paper \\'c shm\' that Baile~"s mcaSllrc can bc cxactly obtairlf'd in tllf' Siclrauski geIleral-equilibri1lIn framp\\'ork under the assUIllption of quasilinpar prefpreIlC'cs, The rpslllt. based on ",heter or not \\'Palt h pffpcts are incorporatccl into t hp analysis, is also helpful in darif\'ing \\'hy Lucas' Illeasurp clerin'd from the Siclrauski model turns 01lt to be aIl upper bOllIlcl to Bailp~"s, T,,'o eXaInplcs arp used to illustratc t he main C'ondusions,

Incomplete contracts and the problem of social harm

We construct a model in which a first mover decides on its location before it knows the identity of the second mover; joint location results in a negative extemality. Contracts are inherently incomplete since the first mover's initial decision cannot be specified. We analyze several kinds of rights, including damages, injunctions, and rights to exclude (arising from covenants or land ownership). There are cases in which allocating any of these basic rights to the first mover-i.e., first-party rights-is dominated by second-party rights, and cases in which the reverse is true. A Coasian result (efficiency regardless of the rights allocation) only holds under a limited set of conditions. As corollaries of a theorem ranking the basic rights regimes, a number of results emerge contradicting conventional wisdom, including the relative inefficiency of concentrated land ownership and the relevance of the generator's identity. We conclude with a mechanism and a new rights regime that each yield the first best in all cases.

The impact on the stationary state income of a pay-as-you-go system of social security

A model of overlapping generations in continuous time is composed. IndividuaIs pass through two distinct time periods during their life times. During the first period, they work, save and have a death probability equal to zero. During the second, from the periods T after birth, their probability of death changes to p and then they retire. Capital stock and the stationary state in come are calculated for two situations: in the first, people live from their accumulated capital after retirementj in the second, they live from a state transfer payment through income taxo To simplify matters, in this preliminary version, it is supposed that there is no population growth and that the instantaneous elasticity substitution of consumption is unitary.

Formation of social capital in Eastern Europe : explaining the gap vis-à-vis developed countries

Recent Eurobarometer survey data are used to document and explain the leveI of social capital in thirteen new members and fifteen current members of the European Union. Social capital in Eastern Europe - measured by participation in clubs and organization, intensity of networks or altruistic behavior - lags behind that in developed countries. The differences in individual-leveI determinants cannot fully account for the gap at the aggregate leveI. Once we also include aggregate measures of economic development and quality of institutions, the gap disappears. This implies that the EU enlargement will contribute to a convergence in social capital, assuming that it contributes to the economic and institutional development of Eastern European countries. A necessary condition is that both, formal and informal institutions and their interaction should be regarded in this process.

The impact of social security reform on occupational and retirement behavior : a quantitative assessment for Brazil

Population ageing is a problem that countries will have to cope with within a few years. How would changes in the social security system affect individual behaviour? We develop a multi-sectoral life-cycle model with both retirement and occupational choices to evaluate what are the macroeconomic impacts of social security reforms. We calibrate the model to match 2011 Brazilian economy and perform a counterfactual exercise of the long-run impacts of a recently adopted reform. In 2013, the Brazilian government approximated the two segregated social security schemes, imposing a ceiling on public pensions. In the benchmark equilibrium, our modelling economy is able to reproduce the early retirement claiming, the agents' stationary distribution among sectors, as well as the social security deficit and the public job application decision. In the counterfactual exercise, we find a significant reduction of 55\% in the social security deficit, an increase of 1.94\% in capital-to-output ratio, with both output and capital growing, a delay in retirement claims of public workers and a modification in the structure of agents applying to the public sector job.

Contested dominance modifies the anovulatory consequences of social subordination in female marmosets

Dominance status among female marmosets is reflected in agonistic behavior and ovarian function. Socially dominant females receive submissive behavior from subordinates, while exhibiting normal ovulatory function. Subordinate females, however, receive agonistic behavior from dominants, while exhibiting reduced or absent ovulatory function. Such disparity in female fertility is not absolute, and groups with two breeding females have been described. The data reported here were obtained from 8 female-female pairs of captive female marmosets, each housed with a single unrelated male. Pairs were classified into two groups: “uncontested” dominance (UD) and “contested” dominance (CD), with 4 pairs each. Dominant females in UD pairs showed significantly higher frequencies (4.1) of agonism (piloerection, attack and chasing) than their subordinates (0.36), and agonistic behaviors were overall more frequently displayed by CD than by UD pairs. Subordinates in CD pairs exhibited more agonistic behavior (2.9) than subordinates in UD pairs (0.36), which displayed significantly more submissive (6.97) behaviors than their dominants (0.35). The data suggest that there is more than one kind of dominance relationship between female common marmosets. Assessment of progesterone levels showed that while subordinates in UD pairs appeared to be anovulatory, the degree of ovulatory disruption in subordinates of CD pairs was more varied and less complete. We suggest that such variation in female-female social dominance relationships and the associated variation in the degree and reliability of fertility suppression may explain variations of the reproductive condition of free-living groups of common marmosets

The trajectory of social housing policy in Brazil: From the National Housing Bank to the Ministry of the Cities

This paper discusses social housing policy in Brazil since the 1990s by analyzing government programs’ institutional arrangements, their sources of revenues and the formatting of related financial systems. The conclusion suggests that all these arrangements have not constituted a comprehensive housing policy with the clear aim of serving to enhance housing conditions in the country. Housing ‘policies’ since the 1990s – as proposed by Fernando Collor de Mello, Itamar Franco, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and ´ Luis Inacio Lula da Silva’s governments (in the latter case, despite much progress towards subsidized investment programs) – have sought to consolidate financial instruments in line with global markets, restructuring the way private interests operate within the system, a necessary however incomplete course of action. Different from rhetoric, this has resulted in failure as the more fundamental social results for the poor have not yet been achieved.

Implementação da política de assistência social em Mossoró/RN : uma avaliação a partir dos centros de referência da assistência social

The current National Policy for Social Assistance (PNAS) is the instrument that regulates the organization and procedures of social-welfare actions. Developed and approved in 2004 since the Unified Social Assistance System (ITS) was crated in 2003, it reaffirms the democratic principles of the Social Assistance Organic Law (LOAS) focusing on the universalization of social rights and equality of rights when accessing the social-welfare system. In the SUAS point of view, the PNAS highlights the information, monitoring and evaluation fields for being the best way to assure the regulation, organization and control by the Federal Government paying attention to the principles of decentralization and participation. This political-institutional rearrangement occurs through the pact among all the three federal entities. The pact deals with the implementation of the task. It says that it has to be shared between the federal autonomous entities, established by dividing responsibilities. To the cities, considered as the smallest territorial unit of the federation and closer to the population, was given the primary responsibility, which is to feed and maintain the database of SUAS NETWORK and identify families living in situations of social vulnerability. In addition to these responsibilities, the cities that have full autonomy in the management of their actions, have the responsibility to organize the basic social protection and the special social protection, that using the Center of Social Assistance Reference (CRAS) and the Center of Specialized Social Assistance Reference (CREAS), are responsible for the provision of programs, projects and services that strengthen the family and community; that promote people who are able to enjoy the benefits of the Continuing benefit of Provisions (BPC) and transfer of incomes; that hold the infringed rights on its territory; that maximize the protective role of families and strengthen its users organization. In Mossoró/RN, city classified as autonomous in the social assistance management, has five units of CRAS that, for being public utilities, are considered the main units of basic social protection, since they are responsible for the connection between the other institutions that compose the network of local social protection. Also known as Family House, the CRAS, among other programs and services, offers the Integral Attention to Families Program (PAIF), Juvenile ProJovem Program, socio-educational coexistence services programs, as well as sending people to other public policies and social-welfare services network, provides information, among others. In this large field, social workers are highlighted as keys to implement the policy of social assistance within the city, followed by psychologists and educators. They should be effective public employees, as a solution to ensure that the provision of the services are to be continued, provided to the population living around the units. However, what we can find here is inattention to the standard rules of social assistance, which not only undermines the quality of programs and services, but also the consolidation of policy on welfare as public policy of social rights

Sex Trade Involvement in São Paulo, Brazil and Toronto, Canada: Narratives of Social Exclusion and Fragmented Identities

An extensive international literature has been developed regarding the risk trajectories of sex trade-involved children and youth. This literature has not, however, substantially incorporated the narratives of youths regarding their experiences. In this article, the contemporary literature on child and youth sex trade-involvement is reviewed and the findings of a qualitative analysis of the narratives of 14 youth from São Paulo, Brazil and 58 youth from Toronto, Canada are presented. Substantial similarities were found between the groups of narratives with respect to abusive and unstable home experiences, pathways into the sex trade, social exclusion, and the impacts of the sex trade on physical and mental health. Key areas of divergence included the roles of poverty and drug use in entering the sex trade. The implications of shared experiences of social exclusion and fragmented identity across differing sociocultural contexts for policy and intervention are discussed.

Alcoholic women and men: a comparative study of social and familial aspects and outcome

Objetivos: A proporção de ocorrência de alcoolismo em homens e mulheres tem uma variação de 14:1 até 2:1, mostrando a necessidade de estudos específicos para a população feminina. O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar o perfil e a evolução de alcoolistas, segundo gênero e gravidade da dependência. Métodos: Realizou-se um estudo longitudinal retrospectivo de 114 homens e 57 mulheres alcoolistas (CID-10), inscritos no ambulatório da Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu, no período de 1990-1994 e avaliados até julho de 1997. Utilizou-se um questionário semi-estruturado, e, para avaliação da gravidade do alcoolismo, o Short Alcohol Dependence Data. Resultados/Conclusões: Os principais resultados mostraram que a estrutura familiar estava comprometida com: relacionamento difícil para 55,6% das mulheres e 65,7% dos homens; violência familiar em 74,1% das mulheres e 61,1% dos homens. As mulheres iniciaram a ingestão mais tarde que os homens (p=0,01), em geral com seus cônjuges (p=0,00). Não houve diferença de evolução no tratamento entre os gêneros. Os principais fatores associados à melhor resposta ao tratamento, independentemente do sexo, foram: nível de gravidade de dependência do álcool (dependentes leves e moderados apresentaram 5,59 vezes mais chances de melhorar do que os dependentes graves); ser praticante de alguma religião (2,3 vezes mais chances de melhora do que os pacientes que não eram praticantes); e tempo de seguimento no programa, negativamente correlacionado a chances de melhora (0,68 vezes menos chances de melhora que aqueles que permaneceram por tempo menor em tratamento).

Clinical correlates of social adjustment in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

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

Eye color as an indicator of social rank in the fish Nile tilapia

We investigated the association of eye color with the dominant-subordinate relationship in the fish Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus. Eye color pattern was also examined in relation to the intensity of attacks. We paired 20 size-matched fish (intruder: 73.69 ± 11.49 g; resident: 75.42 ± 8.83 g) and evaluated eye color and fights. These fish were isolated in individual aquaria for 10 days and then their eye color was measured 5 min before pairing (basal values). Twenty minutes after pairing, eye color and fights were quantified for 10 min. Clear establishment of social hierarchy was observed in 7 of 10 pairs of fish. Number of attacks ranged from 1 to 168 among pairs. The quartile was calculated for these data and the pairs were then divided into two classes: low-attack (1 to 111 attacks - 2 lower quartiles) or high-attack (112 to 168 attacks - 2 higher quartiles). Dominance decreased the eye-darkening patterns of the fish after pairing, while subordinance increased darkening compared to dominance. Subordinate fish in low-attack confrontations presented a darker eye compared to dominant fish and to the basal condition. We also observed a paler eye pattern in dominants that shared low-attack interactions after pairing compared to the subordinates and within the group. However, we found no differences in the darkening pattern between dominants and subordinates from the high-attack groups. We conclude that eye color is associated with social rank in this species. Moreover, the association between eye color and social rank in the low-attack pairs may function to reduce aggression.

Influence of Prey Size on the Capture of Social Wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) by the Orb-Web Spider Nephilengys cruentata

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)