Measurement of social value creation with non-financial measures

This research examines the concept of social entrepreneurship which is a fairly new business model. In the field of business it has become increasingly popular in recent years. The growing awareness of the environment and concrete examples of impact created by social entrepreneurship have encouraged entrepreneurs to address social problems. Society’s failures are tried to redress as a result of business activities. The purpose of doing business is necessarily no longer generating just profits but business is run in order to make a social change with the profit gained from the operations. Successful social entrepreneurship requires a specific nature, constant creativity and strong desire to make a social change. It requires constant balancing between two major objectives: both financial and non-financial issues need to be considered, but not at the expense of another. While aiming at the social purpose, the business needs to be run in highly competitive markets. Therefore, both factors need equally be integrated into an organization as they are complementary, not exclusionary. Business does not exist without society and society cannot go forward without business. Social entrepreneurship, its value creation, measurement tools and reporting practices are under discussion in this research. An extensive theoretical basis is covered and used to support the findings coming out of the researched case enterprises. The most attention is focused on the concept of Social Return on Investment. The case enterprises are analyzed through the SROI process. Social enterprises are mostly small or medium sized. Naturally this sets some limitations in implementing measurement tools. The question of resources requires the most attention and therefore sets the biggest constraints. However, the size of the company does not determine all – the nature of business and the type of social purpose need to be considered always. The mission may be so concrete and transparent that in all cases any kind of measurement would be useless. Implementing measurement tools may be of great benefit – or a huge financial burden. Thus, the very first thing to carefully consider is the possible need of measuring value creation.

“Who is steering the ship and which constellation guides the way? Exploring transparency in the European Central Bank during the time of crisis”

This paper explores transparency in the decision-making of the European Central Bank (ECB). According to ECB´s definition, transparency means that the central bank provides the general public with all relevant information on its strategy, assessments and policy decisions as well as its procedures in an open, clear and timely manner. In this paper, however, the interpretation of transparency is somewhat broader: Information is freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by the decisions. Moreover, the individuals shall be able to master this material. ECB´s negative attitude towards publication of documents has demonstrated central bank´s reluctance to strive towards more extensive transparency. By virtue of the definition adopted by the ECB the bank itself is responsible for determining what is considered as relevant information. On the grounds of EU treaties, this paper assesses ECB`s accountability concentrating especially on transparency by employing principal-agent theory and constitutional approach. Traditionally, the definite mandate and the tenet of central bank independence have been used to justify the limited accountability. The de facto competence of the ECB has, however, considerably expanded as the central bank has decisively resorted to non-standard measures in order to combat the economic turbulences facing Europe. It is alleged that non-standard monetary policy constitutes a grey zone occasionally resembling economic policy or fiscal policy. Notwithstanding, the European Court of Justice has repeatedly approved these measures. This dynamic interpretation of the treaties seems to allow temporarily exceptions from the central bank´s primary objective during extraordinary times. Regardless, the paper suggests that the accountability nexus defined in the treaties is not sufficient in order to guarantee the accountability of the ECB after the adoption of the new, more active role. Enhanced transparency would help the ECB to maintain its credibility. Investing in the quality of monetary dialogue between the Parliament and the ECB appears to constitute the most adequate and practicable method to accomplish this intention. As a result of upgraded transparency the legitimacy of the central bank would not solely rest on its policy outputs.

Chemical changes in biomass during torrefaction

Torrefaction is moderate thermal treatment (~200-300 °C) of biomass in an inert atmosphere. The torrefied fuel offers advantages to traditional biomass, such as higher heating value, reduced hydrophilic nature, increased its resistance to biological decay, and improved grindability. These factors could, for instance, lead to better handling and storage of biomass and increased use of biomass in pulverized combustors. In this work, we look at several aspects of changes in the biomass during torrefaction. We investigate the fate of carboxylic groups during torrefaction and its dependency to equilibrium moisture content. The changes in the wood components including carbohydrates, lignin, extractable materials and ashforming matters are also studied. And at last, the effect of K on torrefaction is investigated and then modeled. In biomass, carboxylic sites are partially responsible for its hydrophilic characteristic. These sites are degraded to varying extents during torrefaction. In this work, methylene blue sorption and potentiometric titration were applied to measure the concentration of carboxylic groups in torrefied spruce wood. The results from both methods were applicable and the values agreed well. A decrease in the equilibrium moisture content at different humidity was also measured for the torrefied wood samples, which is in good agreement with the decrease in carboxylic group contents. Thus, both methods offer a means of directly measuring the decomposition of carboxylic groups in biomass during torrefaction as a valuable parameter in evaluating the extent of torrefaction. This provides new information to the chemical changes occurring during torrefaction. The effect of torrefaction temperature on the chemistry of birch wood was investigated. The samples were from a pilot plant at Energy research Center of the Netherlands (ECN). And in that way they were representative of industrially produced samples. Sugar analysis was applied to analyze the hemicellulose and cellulose content during torrefaction. The results show a significant degradation of hemicellulose already at 240 °C, while cellulose degradation becomes significant above 270 °C torrefaction. Several methods including Klason lignin method, solid state NMR and Py-GC-MS analyses were applied to measure the changes in lignin during torrefaction. The changes in the ratio of phenyl, guaiacyl and syringyl units show that lignin degrades already at 240 °C to a small extent. To investigate the changes in the extractives from acetone extraction during torrefaction, gravimetric method, HP-SEC and GC-FID followed by GC-MS analysis were performed. The content of acetone-extractable material increases already at 240 °C torrefaction through the degradation of carbohydrate and lignin. The molecular weight of the acetone-extractable material decreases with increasing the torrefaction temperature. The formation of some valuable materials like syringaresinol or vanillin is also observed which is important from biorefinery perspective. To investigate the change in the chemical association of ash-forming elements in birch wood during torrefaction, chemical fractionation was performed on the original and torrefied birch samples. These results give a first understanding of the changes in the association of ashforming elements during torrefaction. The most significant changes can be seen in the distribution of calcium, magnesium and manganese, with some change in water solubility seen in potassium. These changes may in part be due to the destruction of carboxylic groups. In addition to some changes in water and acid solubility of phosphorous, a clear decrease in the concentration of both chlorine and sulfur was observed. This would be a significant additional benefit for the combustion of torrefied biomass. Another objective of this work is studying the impact of organically bound K, Na, Ca and Mn on mass loss of biomass during torrefaction. These elements were of interest because they have been shown to be catalytically active in solid fuels during pyrolysis and/or gasification. The biomasses were first acid washed to remove the ash-forming matters and then organic sites were doped with K, Na, Ca or Mn. The results show that K and Na bound to organic sites can significantly increase the mass loss during torrefaction. It is also seen that Mn bound to organic sites increases the mass loss and Ca addition does not influence the mass loss rate on torrefaction. This increase in mass loss during torrefaction with alkali addition is unlike what has been found in the case of pyrolysis where alkali addition resulted in a reduced mass loss. These results are important for the future operation of torrefaction plants, which will likely be designed to handle various biomasses with significantly different contents of K. The results imply that shorter retention times are possible for high K-containing biomasses. The mass loss of spruce wood with different content of K was modeled using a two-step reaction model based on four kinetic rate constants. The results show that it is possible to model the mass loss of spruce wood doped with different levels of K using the same activation energies but different pre-exponential factors for the rate constants. Three of the pre-exponential factors increased linearly with increasing K content, while one of the preexponential factors decreased with increasing K content. Therefore, a new torrefaction model was formulated using the hemicellulose and cellulose content and K content. The new torrefaction model was validated against the mass loss during the torrefaction of aspen, miscanthus, straw and bark. There is good agreement between the model and the experimental data for the other biomasses, except bark. For bark, the mass loss of acetone extractable material is also needed to be taken into account. The new model can describe the kinetics of mass loss during torrefaction of different types of biomass. This is important for considering fuel flexibility in torrefaction plants.

Uma contribuição ao debate em torno da eficácia da política monetária e algumas implicações para o caso do Brasil

A contribution to the debate on the efficacy of monetary policy and some implications in the case of Brazil. The main opposition between Keynesian and Classic monetary theories is defined by the former's proposition of money non-neutrality in the long period. According to Keynes, it is not possible to describe a monetary economy's long period position without first specifying the monetary policy it is adopting. The policy is described by the choice of the short-term interest rate which exerts an important determining influence on the long term rate and, therefore, on real investment decisions. Based on this reasoning, inflation target monetary policy regimes are criticized, in particular the one adopted in post-1999 balance of payments crisis Brazil because of its deleterious impact on investment and growth.

Renegociação da dívida pública interna em condições de sobreendividamento

Renegotiation of the public debt in conditions of excessive debt. This paper studies the debt overhang models and maturity management models, and analyses both theoretically and historically the debt renegotiations which the final outcome is a lower public debt burden. From the theoretical view the renegotiation plans can be Pareto improving, both creditors and debtors can be better-off, and the value of the new debt will price the new reputation and debtors' willingness to pay. From the historical point of view, funded debts were the instrument that debtors used to improve reputation.

Para superar el estancamiento económico en México: "nudos críticos" de un proyecto nacional de desarrollo

This article is devoted to analyze changes in economic policy to be adopted by Mexico if a national development project were implemented. Starting from an evaluation of the main economic and political outcomes of Vicente’s Fox administration, the author proposes an alternative development strategy which permits Mexico to overcome economic stagnation. That strategy would be based in recovering the internal market as the dynamical focus of the economy with the purpose of satisfying basic needs of people. To be successful this strategy should to confront the "critical knots" of the Neo-liberal model: to reverse the uneven distribution of income; abandoning the fixing of restrictive monetary, fiscal and exchange rate policies; and mobilizing economic surplus by means of a profound revision of debt service schemes. It concludes that to implement a national development project it is required a political and economic strategy to dismantle neoliberalism, which is an antinational structure of power.

Uma análise da proposta de déficit nominal zero

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between fiscal deficits and interest rate in Brazil. An adaptation of Taylor’s Rule is tested and the data confirmed this relationship. Furthermore, evidence from a loanable funds model shows that a lower deficit can bring interest rate down. However, policy coordination is a key feature in this process.

Notas críticas sobre a macroeconomia novo-Keynesiana

This article shows that, in spite of its great steps towards reality, new-Keynesian macroeconomics seems to be a non-systematic construction with problems originated from "ad hoc" hypothesis required to explain the non neutrality of money and the existence of disequilibria in the short run. In particular, it seems that prices and wages rigidities stand in sandy bases and that the derivation of the IS and LM curves from neoclassical fundamentals is problematic. Even disregarding the apparent difficulties of the neoclassical theory of value and distribution, the new-Keynesian connections between interest rate, money, and output do not seem fully consistent.

Rethinking the economics of capital mobility and capital controls

This paper reexamines the issue of international financial capital mobility, which is today's economic orthodoxy. Discussion is often framed in terms of the impossible trinity. That framing distorts discussion by representing capital mobility as having equal significance with sovereign monetary policy and control over exchange rates. It also distorts discussion by ignoring possibilities for coordinated monetary policy and exchange rates, and for managed capital flows. The case for capital mobility rests on neo-classical economic efficiency arguments and neo-liberal political arguments. The case against capital mobility is based on Keynesian macroeconomic inefficiency arguments, neo-Walrasian market failure arguments, and neo-Marxian arguments regarding distortion of the social structure of accumulation. Close examination shows the case for capital mobility to be extremely flimsy, pointing to the ideological dimension behind today's policy orthodoxy.

Endividamento público, crescimento, moeda e inflação: comentário a "Matemática agradável", de Gerson Lima

The paper aims at analyzing the article by Gerson Lima on the manner by which fiscal deficit should be covered. It presents a more general dynamic model, where the principle of effective demand is explicitly used. By doing that, it is possible to treat as endogenous variables the national income and the government entries, what brings the result that the public debt must not follow an explosive path unless the very restrictive conditions of Lima's paper prevail. It also evaluates Lima's implicit inflation theory, and argues against his approximation to Friedman's framework.

Conservadorismo e rigidez na política monetária: uma estimativa da função de reação do BCB (2000-2007)

This paper aims at evaluating the conduction of monetary policy after the adoption of inflation targeting. Formation of Selic rate is modeled by estimating a reaction function of the BCB. Results show an excessive degree of interest rate smoothing and a high level of equilibrium interest rate. This evidence supports the belief that Selic rate's formation is ruled by a conservative behavior. The conservative conduction of monetary policy is related to two distinct features of BCB's reaction function: i) the great weight of autoregressive components; and, chiefly, ii) a very high level of the equilibrium interest rate. The main conclusion is that, all remaining unchanged, the interest rate would hardly be reduced in a satisfactory way. Massive and chronic deflation would be needed if Selic were to reach a reasonable level, closer to that of rates in the rest of the world. This evidences the need for a debate on the adequacy of current stabilization strategy.

Metas de inflação, regra de Taylor e neutralidade da moeda: uma crítica pós-keynesiana

Inflation targeting, Taylor rule and money neutrality: a post-Keynesian critic. This paper critically discusses the inflation targeting regime proposed by orthodox economists, in particular the Taylor Rule. The article describes how the Taylor Rule assumes the argument of money neutrality inherited from the Quantitative Theory of Money. It discusses critically the ways of operation of the rule, and the negative impacts of the interest rate over the potential output. In this sense, the article shows the possible vicious circles of the monetary policy when money is not neutral, as is the case for post-keynesian economists. The relation of interest rates, potential output and the output gap is illustrated in some estimates using the methodology of Vector Auto-Regressive in the Brazilian case.

Structuralist macroeconomics and the new developmentalism

This paper first presents some basic ideas and models of a structuralist development macroeconomics that complements and actualizes the ideas of the structuralist development economics that was dominant between the 1940s and the 1960s. A system of three models focusing on the exchange rate (the tendency to the cyclical overvaluation of the exchange rate, a critique of growth with foreign savings, and new a model of the Dutch disease) shows that it is not just volatile but chronically overvalued, and for that reason it is not just a macroeconomic problem; as a long term disequilibrium, it is in the core of development economics. Second, it summarizes "new developmentalism" - a sum of growth policies based on these models and on the experience of fast-growing Asian countries.

Gênese e agenda do novo desenvolvimentismo brasileiro

The debate regarding Brazil's development model returned again to the public arena in the first decade of 21st century after two decades of orthodox economic policies which encouraged non-developed countries to adopt liberal economic policies as their preferred growth strategies. As Brazil achieved neither economic stability nor development, the discussion of new development strategies returned as a popular research topic. It is in this context that a new development theory - New Developmentalism - emerges. The objective of this article is to review the origins of this debate and the main propositions defended by the group aiming to implement a new development model policy in the country. The main conclusions are that this group has had an important contribution in maintaining the development debate in the public agenda as well as proposing a new theoretical approach called "structuralist macroeconomic development".

Revelações da crise: moeda fiduciária e as relações Tesouro/Banco Central

The current crisis shed a new light on issues that, previously, were not perceived as serious or important. It highlighted the close ties between fiat currency and government bonds denominated in it or, in other words, the relationship between Treasury and Central Bank. Two ill-conceived views of the "new consensus" on money that had turned into taboos were put in evidence. The first, derived from the quantitative theory, concerns the rejection of unsterilized monetary expansion; the second, directly related to the neoliberal ideology, prohibits or imposes strict limits on the role of central banks in the financing of public debts.