Conservadorismo e herança institucional de financiamento das companhias abertas do Brasil

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Programa Multi-Institucional e Inter-Regional de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Contábeis, 2015.

Economic development and Environmental quality: The environmental Kuznets curve for water pollution

The main aim of this study was to analyze evidence of an environmental Kuznets curve for water pollution in the developing and developed countries. The study was conducted based on a panel data set of 54 countries – that were categorized into six groups of “developed countries”, “developing countries”, “developed countries with low income”, “developed countries with high income” and “coastal countries”- between the years 1995 to 2006. The results do not confirm the inverted U-shape of EKC curve for the developed countries with low income. Based on the estimated turning points and the average GDP per capita, the study revealed at which point of the EKC the countries are. Furthermore, impacts of capital-and-labor ratio as well as trade openness are drawn by estimating different models for the EKC. The magnitude role of each explanatory variable on BOD was calculated by estimating the associated elasticity.

Estudo dos determinantes do crescimento das empresas familiares portuguesas

No presente estudo procuramos analisar os determinantes do crescimento das empresas familiares portuguesas, através de uma amostra de empresas familiares membros da Associação de Empresas Familiares, durante o período de 2006 a 2014. Com vista ao teste das hipóteses em estudo foram utilizados dados em painel, com modelos de efeitos fixo e aleatório. A variável dependente definida foi o crescimento das vendas. As variáveis independentes definidas foram: dimensão; idade; endividamento; endividamento de curto prazo; endividamento de médio longo prazo; produtividade da mão-de-obra; estrutura do ativo; variável dummy da crise financeira; variável dummy da administração pertencer à família; e variável dummy do género do administrador. Os resultados obtidos confirmam a dimensão, a idade e o endividamento como determinantes do crescimento; ABSTRACT: In the present study we analyzed the determinants of growth of family businesses through a sample of family businesses members of the Family Business Association, during the period between 2006 and 2014. In order to test the hypotheses under study were used panel data, with models of fixed and random effects. The Sales growth was defined as the dependent variable. The independent variables were defined: size; age; debt; short-term debt; medium and long term debt; labor productivity; asset structure; dummy variable of the financial crisis; dummy administration belong to the family; and dummy administrator gender variable. The results confirm the size, age, and debt as determinants of growth.

A influência do conselho de administração na lucratividade das empresas listadas na BM&FBOVESPA

Dissertação (mestrado)—UnB/UFPB/UFRN, Programa MultiInstitucional e Inter-Regional de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Contábeis, 2016.

Eleição nas escolas: uma análise do impacto do diretor eleito sobre o desempenho educacional no Estado da Bahia

In Brazil, the selection of school principals is set in a decentralized manner by each state and city, such that processes may vary with time for a specific locality. In the state of Bahia, school principals were appointed by a higher political hierarchy until 2008, when schools under state administration started selecting principals by elections. The main goal of this work is to evaluate whether changing this specific rule affected students proficiency levels. This is achieved by using a panel data and difference-in-differences approachs that compares state schools (treatment group) to city schools (control group) that did not face a selection rule change and thus kept having their principals politically appointed. The databases used are Prova Brasil 2007, 2009 and 2011, the first one prior and the other two former to the policy change. Our results suggest that students attending schools with principals that are selected and elected have slightly lower mean proficiency levels both in mathematics and in portuguese exams than those attending schools with appointed principals. This result, according to the literature, could be related to perverse effects of selecting school administrators by vote, such as corporatism, clientelism and politicization of the school environment

US Antidumping Petitions and Revealed Comparative Advantage of Shrimp Exporting Countries

The paper explores the trade competitiveness of seven major shrimp exporting countries, namely Vietnam, China, Thailand, Ecuador, India, Indonesia and Mexico, to the USA. Specifically, we investigate whether the United States (US) antidumping petitions impact upon the bilateral revealed comparative advantage (RCA) indexes for each of the seven shrimp exporting countries with the USA. Monthly data from January 2003 to December 2014 and the panel data model are used to examine the determinants of the RCA for the shrimp exporting countries. The empirical results show the shrimp exporting countries have superior competitiveness against the shrimp market in the USA. Moreover, the RCA indexes are significantly negatively influenced by shrimp prices, and are positively affected by US income per capita. However, the EMS (Early Mortality Syndrome) shrimp disease, domestic US shrimp quantity, exchange rate, and US antidumping laws are found to have no significant impacts on the RCA indexes. In terms of policy implications, the USA should try to reduce production costs of shrimp in the US market instead of imposing antidumping petitions, and the shrimp exporting countries should maintain their comparative advantage and diversify into new markets.

A Corrupção burocrática inibe o empreendedorismo? uma análise empírica dos estados brasileiros

This work aims to investigate the relationship between the entrepreneurship and the incidence of bureaucratic corruption in the states of Brazil and Federal District. The main hypothesis of this study is that the opening of a business in Brazilian states is negatively affected by the incidence of corruption. The theoretical reference is divided into Entrepreneurship and bureaucratic corruption, with an emphasis on materialistic perspective (objectivist) of entrepreneurship and the effects of bureaucratic corruption on entrepreneurial activity. By the regression method with panel data, we estimated the models with pooled data and fixed and random effects. To measure corruption, I used the General Index of Corruption for the Brazilian states (BOLL, 2010), and to represent entrepreneurship, firm entry per capita by state. Tests (Chow, Hausman and Breusch-Pagan) indicate that the random effects model is more appropriate, and the preliminary results indicate a positive impact of bureaucratic corruption on entrepreneurial activity, contradicting the hypothesis expected and found in previous articles to Brazil, and corroborating the proposition of Dreher and Gassebner (2011) that, in countries with high regulation, bureaucratic corruption can be grease in the wheels of entrepreneurship

Obesidad, sobrepeso y condiciones socioeconómicas. El caso argentino

Obesity has been classified by the World Health Organization as a worldwide epidemic -- This issue is a growing field in economics due to pathologies associated with overweight, the significant impact on healthcare costs and consequent deterioration of welfare -- This paper shows the analysis of the results from the National Survey of Risk Factors in order to identify the role of socioeconomic conditions of obesity and overweight based on panel data models -- The results indicate that the income level and sedentary lifestyle have positively influenced obesity and overweight, whereas the education and medical coverage are not relevant when explaining the differences between provinces in overweight prevalence, but become significant in the obesity rates variations

Entrepreneurship and Economic Liberalization in the OECD Countries

Entrepreneurship displays remarkable differences across countries because of diverse factors. In this sense, it is frequently argued that economic liberalization encourages entrepreneurship. In this paper we address the extent to which economic freedom, understood as market economy oriented institutions and policies, matters for entrepreneurial activity through a panel data analysis for 78 countries during the period 2001-2012. We examine the relationship between the Fraser Institute’s economic freedom index and its five areas, and three entrepreneurial activity indicators from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, namely total entrepreneurial activity, necessity entrepreneurship and opportunity entrepreneurship. Economic freedom seems to increase opportunity entrepreneurship and decrease necessity entrepreneurship. Focusing on the OECD countries, we highlight that economic freedom is positively associated with entrepreneurship. In terms of entrepreneurship motivation, we find that a more flexible regulation of credit, labor and business, as well as entrepreneurial attitudes, may contribute to enhance opportunity entrepreneurship

Essays in Personal Transportation Demand and Consumer Finance

This dissertation is composed of three essays covering two areas of interest. The first topic is personal transportation demand with a focus on price and fuel efficiency elasticities of mileage demand, challenging assumptions common in the rebound effect literature. The second topic is consumer finance with a focus on small loans. The first chapter creates separate variables for fuel prices during periods of increasing and decreasing prices as well as an observed fuel economy measure to empirically test the equivalence of these elasticities. Using a panel from Germany from 1997 to 2009 I find a fuel economy elasticity of mileage of 53.3%, which is significantly different from the gas price elasticity of mileage during periods of decreasing gas prices, 4.8%. I reject the null hypothesis or price symmetry, with the elasticity of mileage during period of increasing gas prices ranging from 26.2% and 28.9%. The second chapter explores the potential for the rebound effect to vary with income. Panel data from U.S. households from 1997 to 2003 is used to estimate the rebound effect in a median regression. The estimated rebound effect independent of income ranges from 17.8% to 23.6%. An interaction of income and fuel economy is negative and significant, indicating that the rebound effect may be much higher for low income individuals and decreases with income; the rebound effect for low income households ranged from 80.3% to 105.0%, indicating that such households may increase gasoline consumption given an improvement in fuel economy. The final chapter documents the costs of credit instruments found in major mail order catalogs throughout the 20th century. This study constructs a new dataset and finds that the cost of credit increased and became stickier as mail order retailers switched from an installment-style closed-end loan to a revolving-style credit card. This study argues that revolving credit's ability to decrease salience of credit costs in the price of goods is the best explanation for rate stickiness in the mail order industry as well as for the preference of revolving credit among retailers.

On the Social Aspects of Unemployment: The Case of Life Satisfaction

Unemployment is related to economic, political and social aspects. One of the least analysed social aspects is the relationship between unemployment and the (individual) perceived levels of well-being, such as life satisfaction or happiness. This chapter complements previous work on the subject, using a panel-data econometrics methodology to analyze the relationship between unemployment and life satisfaction in a wide range of countries worldwide. The results confirm that unemployment has a negative effect, statistically significant, on life satisfaction, either for men or for women.

A indústria hoteleira do Algarve: uma análise de dados em painel da estrutura de capital

Dissertação de Mestrado, Finanças Empresariais, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Algarve, 2015

Factores determinantes das exportações portuguesas para Espanha : uma análise ao nível da empresa

Este estudo analisa a evolução das exportações portuguesas para Espanha e os seus factores determinantes no período 2004-2008, tendo por base uma amostra das 97 maiores empresas exportadoras para Espanha. O estudo utiliza vários indicadores económico-financeiros para caracterizar estas empresas e é feita a comparação entre as 5 maiores empresas e 5 pequenas e médias empresas (PMEs) da amostra. A análise evidencia a concentração geográfica destas empresas nos distritos de Porto e Aveiro e o melhor desempenho das grandes empresas em termos de produtividade, rendibilidade dos capitais próprios e salário médio quando comparadas com as PMEs. Quanto ao estudo econométrico, que utiliza dados em painel, consideraram-se como variáveis explicativas teoricamente relevantes, o valor acrescentado bruto, os resultados líquidos, os capitais próprios, a dimensão da empresa, a remuneração e as despesas em investigação e desenvolvimento (I&D). Os resultados do modelo estimado confirmam a influência positiva destas variáveis sobre a variação das exportações, embora as despesas em I&D e as remunerações se tenham revelado estatisticamente não significativas.

Corporate governance : value creation and performance in credit unions

In this study, we examine the relationship between good corporate governance practices and the creation of value/performance of credit unions from 2010 to 2012. The objective was to create and validate a corporate governance index for credit unions, and to then analyse the relationship between good governance practices and the creation of value/performance. The problem question is: do good corporate governance practices provide value creation for credit unions? The research started by creating indices from factor analysis to identify latent dependent variables related to value creation and performance; next indices were created from the principal component analysis for the creation of independent latent variables related to corporate governance. Finally, based on panel data from regression models, the influence of the variables and indices related to corporate governance on the indices of value creation and performance was verified. Based on the research, it became evident that the Corporate Governance Index (IGC) is mainly impacted by Executive Management, with 40.31% of the IGC value, followed by the Representation and Participation dimension, with 34.07% of the IGC value. The contribution for academics was the creation of the Corporate Governance Index (IGC) applied for credit unions. As for the contribution to the system of credit unions, the highlight was the effectiveness of the mechanisms for economic-financial and asset management adopted by BACEN, credit unions and OCEMG.

Determinantes del spread financiero del sector cooperativo de ahorro y crédito ecuatoriano

Esta investigación analiza los determinantes del spread financiero del sector cooperativo de ahorro y crédito ecuatoriano. La base teórica corresponde al modelo expuesto por Ho y Saunders (1981). Se construyeron variables micro y macroeconómicas para recoger los efectos que estas tienen sobre el margen de intermediación financiera. Se empleó un panel de datos mensuales para el periodo 2007-2014. Las estimaciones fueron realizadas mediante la metodología de errores estándar corregidos para datos de panel. Los resultados explican que el spread financiero del sector cooperativo depende particularmente de los niveles de morosidad, la eficiencia en sus gastos operacionales y el grado de endeudamiento público externo de la economía. Además, la concentración de mercado, los niveles de liquidez y la incertidumbre en los mercados internacionales inciden levemente en la determinación del spread.