The Nine Circles of Surveillance Hell: An Institutional View of Information Flows and Information Threats in Libraries

In the past few years, libraries have started to design public programs that educate patrons about different tools and techniques to protect personal privacy. But do end user solutions provide adequate safeguards against surveillance by corporate and government actors? What does a comprehensive plan for privacy entail in order that libraries live up to their privacy values? In this paper, the authors discuss the complexity of surveillance architecture that the library institution might confront when seeking to defend the privacy rights of patrons. This architecture consists of three main parts: physical or material aspects, logical characteristics, and social factors of information and communication flows in the library setting. For each category, the authors will present short case studies that are culled from practitioner experience, research, and public discourse. The case studies probe the challenges faced by the library—not only when making hardware and software choices, but also choices related to staffing and program design. The paper shows that privacy choices intersect not only with free speech and chilling effects, but also with questions that concern intellectual property, organizational development, civic engagement, technological innovation, public infrastructure, and more. The paper ends with discussion of what libraries will require in order to sustain and improve efforts to serve as stewards of privacy in the 21st century.

Institutional Support for Experiential Learning

This brief details institutional support structures and program structures for experiential learning at small colleges. It also examines credit structures associated with experiential learning, experiential learning as a graduation requirement, and program assessments.

Desordem ou vácuo institucional?: uma análise dos discursos presentes na educação superior peruana

This thesis is about change, discontinuity, instability. The theoretical perspective used to analyses the changing process was Institutional Theory, which argues that institutions has a long-term time. The institutional change has always be seen as a structural process and a incremental one, but this research aimed rescue the dynamic side of institutional change, understanding that as a result of deinstitutionalization and institutionalization processes. In order to understand the deinstitutionalization and institutionalization processes, we try to understand the concepts of interactive and iterative. So, it was possible understand that these process are interdependent and has to be understood as both side of institutional change. Nevertheless, it couldn¿t have an institutional vacuum, but a hybrid order or plural one, where a set of institutional forces would find its legitimacy. The Discourses Analysis supports this research, which was developed in Peru. A group of University professors was interviewed and we noticed that there are a lot of practices that act as micro institutional rules. In that way, we can admit that there is no vacuum, but a plural institutional order.

Por uma reforma dos sistemas horizontal e vertical de divisão de funções do Estado

Enquanto muito se discute nos meios acadêmicos no próprio Congresso Nacional teor das reformas política, tributária previdenciária, todas elas, aliás, fundamentais ao país, esta monografia aborda outras dimensões de reforma, relacionadas organização funcional do Estado Brasileiro. Assim porque exigência de um Estado eficiente responde não somente questão de sua legitimidade, mas é, hoje, no ambiente globalizado de intensa competição de constante instabilidade, imperativo do próprio desenvolvimento de uma nação, especialmente Brasil, que deve, paralelamente, enfrentar um enorme déficit social acumulado. Procura-se, então, discutir, numa visão prospectiva, uma nova divisão de funções entre os Poderes Executivo Legislativo, especialmente no que concerne produção normativa, cujo modelo atual, ainda fundado no dogma da reserva de lei, apresenta-se incapaz de responder com grau de agilidade e competência que se exige do Estado atual. Remanesce, obviamente, preocupação com preservação dos valores democráticos com contenção do poder do Executivo, que instruíram formação dos Estados constitucionais, mas monopolização, pelo Legislativo, da produção de normas gerais abstratas não fator imprescindível ao alcance de tais objetivos sequer corresponde ao modelo empiricamente em vigor no Brasil. No outro aspecto, da divisão vertical de funções determinada pelo modelo federativo brasileiro, aborda-se "crise de relacionamento" entre os Entes Federativos, que se nota na dificuldade de adoção de políticas públicas conjuntas, problema que mais se agrava ante justa demanda da sociedade em encontrar, para seus organismos, espaço de participação nessa mesma seara. Deixando parte algumas sugestões de reconfiguração federativa, com inclusão ou exclusão de Entes, presente estudo procura defender adoção de soluções institucionais para a concretização da cooperação entre os Entes e para participação da sociedade na busca do interesse público.

Essays in corporate risk management

This research investigates the factors that lead Latin American non-financial firms to manage risks using derivatives. The main focus is on currency risk management. With this purpose, this thesis is divided into an introduction and two main chapters, which have been written as stand-alone papers. The first paper describes the results of a survey on derivatives usage and risk management responded by the CFOs of 74 Brazilian non-financial firms listed at the São Paulo Stock Exchange (BOVESPA), and the main evidence found is: i) larger firms are more likely to use financial derivatives; ii) foreign exchange risk is the most managed with derivatives; iii) Brazilian managers are more concerned with legal and institutional aspects in using derivatives, such as the taxation and accounting treatment of these instruments, than with issues related to implementing and maintaining a risk management program using derivatives. The second paper studies the determinants of risk management with derivatives in four Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico). I investigate not only the decision of whether to use financial derivatives or not, but also the magnitude of risk management, measured by the notional value of outstanding derivatives contracts. This is the first study, to the best of my knowledge, to use derivatives holdings information in emerging markets. The use of a multi-country setting allows the analysis of institutional and economic factors, such as foreign currency indebtedness, the high volatility of exchange rates, the instability of political and institutional framework and the development of financial markets, which are issues of second-order importance in developed markets. The main contribution of the second paper is on the understanding of the relationship among currency derivatives usage, foreign debt and the sensitivity of operational earnings to currency fluctuations in Latin American countries. Unlikely previous findings for US firms, my evidence shows that derivatives held by Latin American firms are capable of producing cash flows comparable to financial expenses and investments, showing that derivatives are key instruments in their risk management strategies. It is also the first work to show strong and robust evidence that firms that benefit from local currency devaluation (e.g. exporters) have a natural currency hedge for foreign debt that allows them to bear higher levels of debt in foreign currency. This implies that firms under this revenue-cost structure require lower levels of hedging with derivatives. The findings also provide evidence that large firms are more likely to use derivatives, but the magnitude of derivatives holdings seems to be unrelated to the size of the firm, consistent with findings for US firms.

A (des) construção dos modelos regulatórios no setor de energia elétrica do Brasil: instabilidades, incertezas e a reforma institucional de 2004

Nos últimos anos, a indústria elétrica brasileira passou, basicamente, por duas reestruturações setoriais, implantadas segundo políticas e ideologias divergentes, mas que convergiram para o mesmo objetivo final: a busca por investimentos privados para dar suporte à expansão do sistema. Esse é o grande desafio do novo modelo institucional de 2004, que surge em um ambiente conturbado, de forte percepção de riscos e incertezas. A própria instabilidade regulatória é a grande responsável pelo recuo e ponderação na hora de investir. Contudo, a pergunta que se faz na presente pesquisa objetiva identificar os fatores motivadores da nova reestruturação setorial. Só assim, pode-se correlacionar os fatos do passado com a recente reforma, identificando possíveis deficiências e fatores críticos de sucesso. Para tanto, o presente estudo recorreu à literatura existente, assim como a entrevistas semi-estruturadas com especialistas do setor elétrico brasileiro. Os dados foram analisados qualitativamente, por meio de categorias estabelecidas a posteriori, buscando-se aceitar ou refutar suposições. As evidências sugerem que, apesar de a nova reforma institucional ter realizado avanços, ao introduzir mecanismos absorvidos, principalmente, a partir das experiências regulatórias dos últimos anos, dificuldades ainda permanecem e devem ser enfrentadas, especialmente no que tange à mitigação dos riscos ambientais e regulatórios, este último, percebido com maior intensidade a partir de 2004. Sendo assim, cabe ao governo federal, representado pelo Ministério de Minas e Energia (MME), conseguir atrair investimentos e proporcionar estabilidade regulatória, a fim de afastar o “fantasma” do racionamento.

Microeconomic instability and children's human capital accumulation: the effects of idiosyncratic shocks to father's income on child labor, school drop-outs and repetition rates in Brazil

This paper evaluates the long-run effects of economic instability. In particular, we study the impact of idiosyncratic shocks to father’s income on children’s human capital accumulation variables such as school drop-outs, repetition rates and domestic and non-domestic labor. Although, the problem of child labor in Brazil has declined greatly during the last decade, the number of children working is still substantial. The low levels of educational attainment in Brazil are also a main cause for concern. The large rotating panel data set used allows for the estimation of the impacts of changes in occupational and income status of fathers on changes in his child’s time allocation circumstances. The empirical analysis is restricted to families with fathers, mothers and at least one child between 10 and 15 years of age in the main Brazilian metropolitan areas during the 1982-1999 period. We perform logistic regressions controlling for child characteristics (gender, age, if he/she is behind in school for age), parents characteristics (grade attainment and income) and time and location variables. The main variables analyzed are dynamic proxies of impulses and responses, namely: shocks to household head’s income and unemployment status, on the one hand and child’s probability of dropping out of school, of repeating a grade and of start working, on the other. The findings suggest that father’s income has a significant positive correlation with child’s dropping out of school and of repeating a grade. The findings do not suggest a significant relationship between a father’s becoming unemployed and a child entering the non-domestic labor market. However, the results demonstrate a significant positive relationship between a father becoming unemployed and a child beginning to work in domestic labor. There was also a positive correlation between father becoming unemployed and a child dropping out and repeating a grade. Both gender and age were highly significant with boys and older children being more likely to work, drop-out and repeat grades.

Does Regulation matter? Institutional dimension of the 2008 financial crisis

Why did house prices fall in 2007‐2009? This is the fundamental question to most Americans, and to those who lent them money. Most homeowners did not care why residential real estate prices rose. They assumed prices always rose, and they should simply enjoy their good fortune. It was not until prices began to fall that people were left searching for answers. How much did regulation or lack thereof play in the role of the devastation? To what degree did greed and unrealistic consumer expectation have on the real estate bubble? Using existing literature as well as face to face interviews of experienced leaders within the real estate industry in California who experienced both the up and down of the real estate cycle, the overarching purpose of this study is to investigate the opinions and beliefs of the leaders and drivers within the real estate industry about the cause of the real estate bubble that occurred sharply in 2008 . Specifically, this project will focus on the opinions of real estate industry leaders who worked in the center of the subprime universe located in Irvine, California, during 2004‐2008. Comparing the mainstream beliefs with the interviewees it is fair to say that the main finding in the mainstream beliefs are reflected very well with the finding of the subject’s opinion. The thesis is divided into 6 chapters starting with “introduction”, followed by chapter 2 “Literature Review”. Chapter 3 is “Research Methodology” followed by chapter 4 “Data Presentation”. Finally, the results are discussed in chapter 5 “Analysis and Discussion” and conclusions in Chapter 6.

Um estudo da gênese das dynamic capabilities: o caso da tecnologia bancária no Brasil

Este trabalho analisa o desenvolvimento de dynamic capabilities em um contexto de turbulência institucional, diferente das condições em que esta perspectiva teórica costuma ser estudada. É feito um estudo de caso histórico e processual que analisa o surgimento das Dynamic Capabilities nos bancos brasileiros, a partir do desenvolvimento da tecnologia bancária que se deu entre os anos 1960 e 1990. Baseando-se nas proposições da Estratégia que analisam as vantagens competitivas das empresas através de seus recursos, conhecimentos e Dynamic Capabilities, é construído um framework com o qual são analisados diversos depoimentos dados ao livro “Tecnologia bancária no Brasil: uma história de conquistas, uma visão de futuro” (FONSECA; MEIRELLES; DINIZ, 2010) e em entrevistas feitas para este trabalho. Os depoimentos mostram que os bancos fizeram fortes investimentos em tecnologia a partir da reforma financeira de 1964, época em que se iniciou uma sequência de períodos com características próprias do ponto de vista institucional. Conforme as condições mudavam a cada período, os bancos também mudavam seu processo de informatização. No início, os projetos eram executados ad hoc, sob o comando direto dos líderes dos bancos. Com o tempo, à medida que a tecnologia evoluía, a infraestrutura tecnológica crescia e surgiam turbulências institucionais, os bancos progressivamente desenvolveram parcerias entre si e com fornecedores locais, descentralizaram a área de tecnologia, tornaram-se mais flexíveis, fortaleceram a governança corporativa e adotaram uma série de rotinas para cuidar da informática, o que levou ao desenvolvimento gradual das microfundações das Dynamic Capabilties nesses períodos. Em meados dos anos 1990 ocorreram a estabilização institucional e a abertura da economia à concorrência estrangeira, e assim o país colocou-se nas condições que a perspectiva teórica adotada considera ideais para que as Dynamic Capabilities sejam fontes de vantagem competitiva. Os bancos brasileiros mostraram-se preparados para enfrentar essa nova fase, o que é uma evidência de que eles haviam desenvolvido Dynamic Capabilities nas décadas precedentes, sendo que parte desse desenvolvimento podia ser atribuído às turbulências institucionais que eles haviam enfrentado.