Chronic disease burden and human capital investment: evidence from the chagas disease campaign in Brazil

We investigate the effects of augmented life expectancy and health improvements on human capital investment, labor supply and fertility decisions. Our main motivation is the prediction of human capital theory that a longer and healthier life encourages educational investment and female labor force participation, while discouraging fertility. To assess the magnitude of these effects, we explore a national campaign against Chagas disease in Brazil as an exogenous source of adult mortality decline and improvement in health conditions. We show that, relative to non-endemic areas, previously endemic regions saw higher increases in educational investment, measured by literacy, school attendance and years of schooling, following the campaign. Additionally, we find that labor force participation increased in high prevalence areas relative to low prevalence ones. Furthermore, we estimate a substantially higher effect on female labor force participation relative to male, suggesting that longevity gains and health improvements affected women's incentives to work, encouraging women to join the labor force. We do not find significant effects on fertility decisions.

Ajuste estrutural e educação superior no Brasil: princípios negados

SILVA, Hiran Francisco Oliveira Lopes da. A juste estruturale educação superior no Brasil: princípios negados. 206 f., 2007. Tese (Doutorado em Educação) - Universidade Federal da Paraiba, João Pessoa, 2007.

Microcrédito emancipatório no nordeste do Brasil? : estudo de caso do Crediamigo Comunidade nos municípios de Caucaia-Ce e Maranguape-Ce

This piece of work consists in a study case of Crediamigo Comunidade, a product from the portfolio of Crediamigo Program of Banco do Nordeste, that uses the methodology of the Comunitary Banks in the concession of low amount loan to poor communities. The main question consists to understand how the Crediamigo Comunidade is characterized faced to the conflict of emancipatory versus liberal paradigms, that exists in the microcredit area. The main objective will analyze how the mechanisms: social capital, empowerment, formation to credit education and better conditions for economic and social issues promoted in the specific objectives of this product, before the dipute between these paradigms. The method adopted analyzed, in a longitudinal perspective, the three years of the product s existence (jun/2005 to jul 2008). Primary and secondary data made possible to identify qualitatively, emancipatory and non emancipatory attributes in the actions and results of Crediamigo Comunidade. It is concluded that the Crediamigo Comunidade works in a liberal logic of the Crediamigo Program, consequently, his focus is not in the emancipation of the poorest clients. The empowerment is individual and not communitary or Freiriano ; the social capital relations enlarges itself in its bounding and bridging ties, but not in its linkage ties, to have access to politic actors and consequently communitary strengthen. All the formation in the Crediamigo is strictly commercial. These characteristics happen by the liberal paradigm in the Crediamigo management and of all of its products, including the Crediamigo Comunidade

Tangibilidade, classe de ativos e estrutura de capital das empresas listadas na BM&FBOVESPA

This study aims to investigate the influence of the asset class and the breakdown of tangibility as determinant factors of the capital structure of companies listed on the BM & FBOVESPA in the period of 2008-2012. Two current assets classes were composed and once they were grouped by liquidity, they were also analyzed by the financial institutions for credit granting: current resources (Cash, Bank and Financial Applications) and operations with duplicates (Stocks and Receivables). The breakdown of the tangible assets was made based on its main components provided as warrantees for loans like Machinery & Equipment and Land & Buildings. For an analysis extension, three metrics for leverage (accounting, financial and market) were applied and the sample was divided into economic sectors, adopted by BM&FBOVESPA. The data model in dynamic panel estimated by a systemic GMM of two levels was used in this study due its strength to problems of endogenous relationship as well as the omitted variables bias. The found results suggest that current resources are determinants of the capital structure possibly because they re characterized as proxies for financial solvency, being its relationship with debt positive. The sectorial analysis confirmed the results for current resources. The tangibility of assets has inverse proportional relationship with the leverage. As it is disintegrated in its main components, the significant and negative influence of machinery & equipment was more marked in the Industrial Goods sector. This result shows that, on average, the most specific assets from operating activities of a company compete for a less use of third party resources. As complementary results, it was observed that the leverage has persistence, which is linked with the static trade-off theory. Specifically for financial leverage, it was observed that the persistence is relevant when it is controlled for the lagged current assets classes variables. The proxy variable for growth opportunities, measured by the Market -to -Book, has the sign of its contradictory coefficient. The company size has a positive relationship with debt, in favor of static trade-off theory. Profitability is the most consistent variable in all the performed estimations, showing strong negative and significant relationship with leverage, as the pecking order theory predicts

Modelagem estocástica do índice de radiação ultravioleta na costa leste do nordeste do Brasil

The increase in ultraviolet radiation (UV) at surface, the high incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) in coast of Northeast of Brazil (NEB) and reduction of total ozone were the motivation for the present study. The overall objective was to identify and understand the variability of UV or Index Ultraviolet Radiation (UV Index) in the capitals of the east coast of the NEB and adjust stochastic models to time series of UV index aiming make predictions (interpolations) and forecasts / projections (extrapolations) followed by trend analysis. The methodology consisted of applying multivariate analysis (principal component analysis and cluster analysis), Predictive Mean Matching method for filling gaps in the data, autoregressive distributed lag (ADL) and Mann-Kendal. The modeling via the ADL consisted of parameter estimation, diagnostics, residuals analysis and evaluation of the quality of the predictions and forecasts via mean squared error and Pearson correlation coefficient. The research results indicated that the annual variability of UV in the capital of Rio Grande do Norte (Natal) has a feature in the months of September and October that consisting of a stabilization / reduction of UV index because of the greater annual concentration total ozone. The increased amount of aerosol during this period contributes in lesser intensity for this event. The increased amount of aerosol during this period contributes in lesser intensity for this event. The application of cluster analysis on the east coast of the NEB showed that this event also occurs in the capitals of Paraiba (João Pessoa) and Pernambuco (Recife). Extreme events of UV in NEB were analyzed from the city of Natal and were associated with absence of cloud cover and levels below the annual average of total ozone and did not occurring in the entire region because of the uneven spatial distribution of these variables. The ADL (4, 1) model, adjusted with data of the UV index and total ozone to period 2001-2012 made a the projection / extrapolation for the next 30 years (2013-2043) indicating in end of that period an increase to the UV index of one unit (approximately), case total ozone maintain the downward trend observed in study period

STRESS: um diagnóstico dos policiais militares da cidade de Natal Brasil

Objectives: The purpose of the current study was to diagnose military police officers in Natal, Brazil as to the level and phase of stress in which they find themselves and the prevalent symptomatology (physical or mental). Methodology: Descriptive, crosscut study that investigated a sample of 264 individuals taken from a population of 3,193 military police officers of the Capital Police Command (CPC) in Natal, Brazil. The data were collected using the Lipp Stress Symptoms for Adults Inventory LSSI, and analyzed by tabulations, percentage calculations, t-test for proportions and Pearson s chi-squared test for associations between stress, symptomatology and military rank. Data collection was between June/2004 and January/2005. Results: It was found that 52.6% of the officers had symptoms of stress and 47.4% symptomatology of stress. This was distributed across all ranks, especially mid and upper-level officers as well as corporals and privates, with predominance in the resistance phase (36%) and a prevalence of psychological symptoms (76%). The only variable investigated that was related to stress was gender (P = 0.0337). Conclusions: It was concluded that there is stress among all ranks of military police officers in Natal, Brazil, especially mid and upper-level officers, corporals and privates, with a prevalence of psychological symptoms, low levels of physical symptoms and predominance in the resistance phase. It seems that stress levels do not differ significantly from those found in Brazilian men and women and do not indicate a situation of chronic fatigue

A corretagem de imóveis no Rio Grande do Norte: das práticas históricas à emergência como segmento integrante da fração imobiliária do capital

This research proposed to question the development of what was defined as historical practices (commercial, social and political institutions), of the economic activity of the real estate brokerage in the Rio Grande do Norte from the progressive institutionalization of economic agents - individuals (realtors) and legal (real estate) - based on two main approaches: a) the development of economic activity as an integral segment of a fraction of capital (POULANTZAs, 1985; LESSA, 1981). This work set out from a socio-historical approach of the historical practices development the of real estate brokerage in Brazil started in the Southeast, especially in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo as a result of the "expansion of capitalist relations by the housing sector" (RIBEIRO , 1996). especially the real estate capital ; b) the historical development of relations between labor and capital within the activity, in other words, the development of the relationship between realtors and Real Estate in relation to "group of interests" and their "collective actions" (OFFE, 1984). These historical practices are defined in this research as: 1) mercantile practices, times when there was no distinction between the activity of real estate brokerage and other forms of mercantile capital; 2) social practices, which began in the 1930s, when agents of real estate are to be distinguished from each other within the activity through Taylorist division of labor between workers realtors and developers of real estate; 3) political and institutional practices, initiated in 1962, characterized by State action, in the individualization and distinction of the agents of real estate brokerage as socioprofessional category regulated throughout Brazil by Law 4.116/62 and 6.530/78. The results achieved by the present study showed that in Rio Grande do Norte, due to the specifics as to the peripheral processes of urbanization of the constitution of the land market, as well as the process of conservative modernization of the oligarchic State from the 1960s (CLEMENTINE, 1995; FERREIRA, 1996, 2010, TRINDADE, 2004), the State was led to the development of a late manifestation of the historical practices of real estate brokerage. In other words, it was a process in which historical practices, in particular social practices, not fully developed, mitigating, thus the perception of realtors from his position in the process of exploitation of labor by the Real Estate. And, as a result, of their collective interests front of them.