How are immigration policies affecting Brazil's economy?

How are current immigration policies for foreign workers affecting Brazil's economy, and what changes should be made? What other issues in the labor market are affecting businesses in the country?

An exploratory study on how to improve the economy of American Samoa

Deep in the South Pacific region about 2,300 miles southwest of the Hawaiian islands1 lies a United States territory that many Americans have never heard of nor known anything about. However, some famous Americans such as Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers, semi retired professional wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard have genealogical roots there. More importantly, many of the Territory’s sons and daughters have served and lost their lives for the United States flag and the cause of freedom around the world. This place is called American Samoa, a collection of seven islands that if glued together would have a total landmass of approximately 76 square miles, just a tad bigger than the capital city of the United States. According to the United States Census Bureau, there were 55,519 residents of American Samoa in 2010.1 The majority of them are ethnic Samoans, a Polynesian sect that traces its history back to early migrants from Southeast Asia who settled the islands around 1500 B.C.2 3 The climate is warm all year long and the forests along the mountains are ripe with vegetation. The main island is Tutuila with its beautiful and coveted landlocked harbor that was used as a coaling station by the United States naval ships during World War II. In fact, it was the Pago Pago Harbor that diminished the impact of the 2009 Tsunami that devastated the Samoan islands by channeling the waters of the Pacific Ocean towards the end of the harbor instead of flooding many other villages surrounding the Pago Pago Bay area. Lives and property were destroyed near the end of the Harbor but it could have been worse for the entire Bay area. Locally grown foods include coconut, taro, banana, guava, sugar cane, papaya, yam, pineapple, and breadfruit. It is completely surrounded by the Pacific Ocean from which the locals obtain a variety of seafood. There is a popular saying in Samoa that goes, “In Samoa, it is impossible to starve 1 American Samoa Department of Commerce, 2012 Statistical Yearbook, http://www.doc.as/wpcontent/uploads/2011/06/2012-Statistical-Yearbook-1.pdf 2 U.S. Census Bureau News, U.S. Census Bureau Releases 2010 Census Population Counts for American Samoa, http://www.census.gov/2010census/news/releases/operations/cb11-cn177.html (Aug. 24, 2011). 3 3 J. Robert Shaffer, American Samoa: 100 Years Under the United States Flag (Honolulu, Hawaii: Island Heritage Publishing, 2000), 34. 4 because people live off of the land’s and the ocean’s abundant resources.” To the west of American Samoa lies a larger group of four islands that make up the Sovereign State of Samoa, which became independent from New Zealand in 1962. Samoa and American Samoa share the same language, culture, and religion but are divided by government and political systems. The focus of this study will be on American Samoa, which became a United States territory in 1900 when the principal chiefs of Tutuila (the largest island in American Samoa) ceded the islands to the United States.

Private equity and venture capital in an emerging economy: evidence from Brazil

This article, based on the Brazilian experience, examines how Private Equity and Venture Capital (PE/VC) adapts to an emerging economy Our dataset is based on two extensive questionnaires answered by each of the 65 PE/VC organizations with offices in Brazil. The results reveal that a lack of infrastructure and security create investment opportunities. However, institutional idiosyncrasies represent a major barrier and force PE/VC – a U.S. investment model – to adapt by investing in different stages of business development, avoiding LBOs, taking a generalist industry approach, geographically concentrating in the financial cluster and relying on arbitration for dispute resolution.

Deregulation and The 2007-2008 Housing/Debt Crisis Analysis of the Housing/Debt Crisis of 2007-2008 and its impact on the Financial Strength and Vulnerability of the United States and Global Economy

One looming question has persisted in the minds of economists the world over in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 American Housing and Debt Crisis: How did it begin and who is responsible for making this happen? Another two-part question is: What measures were implemented to help end the crisis and what changes are being implemented to ensure that it will never happen again? Many speculate that the major contributing factor was the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 that prompted a virtual feeding frenzy among the banking community when new calls from Capitol Hill encouraged home ownership in America as well as the secondary mortgage market which skyrocketed thereafter. The Glass-Steagall Act will be among many of the topics explored in this paper along with the events leading up to the 2007-2008 housing/debt crisis as well as the aftermath.

Modelos de negócio na economia compartilhada: uma investigação multi-caso

A economia compartilhada teve origem na década de 1990 nos Estados Unidos impulsionada pelos avanços tecnológicos que propiciaram a redução dos custos das transações on-line peer-to-peer (SHIRKY, 2008), viabilizando a criação de novos modelos de negócio baseados na troca e no compartilhamento de bens e serviços entre pessoas desconhecidas (SCHOR, 2015). A economia compartilhada é constituída por práticas comerciais que possibilitam o acesso a bens e serviços, sem que haja, necessariamente, a aquisição de um produto ou troca monetária (BOTSMAN; ROGERS, 2011). Atualmente, a economia compartilhada está tomando forma no Brasil, por meio da expansão de modelos de negócio que visam ao compartilhamento, à troca e à revenda de produtos e serviços. Assim, objetivando expandir o conhecimento sobre este fenômeno econômico, realizou-se um estudo de caso múltiplo em quatro empresas representantes dessa economia, com o objetivo de conhecer os seus modelos de negócio, enfatizando uma abordagem holística para compreender como essas organizações realizam seus negócios (ZOTT; AMIT; MASSA, 2011). Como resultado deste estudo, constata-se que a economia compartilhada abrange uma extensa gama de modelos de negócio (SCHOR, 2014), dentre os quatro casos estudados foram observados três modelos de negócio distintos. Ademais, por meio dos casos estudados, evidencia-se que as empresas da economia compartilhada tendem a desenvolver sinergias com empresas da economia tradicional para garantir sua sustentabilidade, visto que, das quatro empresas estudadas, três já estão desenvolvendo transações business-to-business com parceiros da economia tradicional, constatando-se assim o surgimento de uma economia híbrida constituída pelo mercado capitalista e pelas iniciativas de compartilhamento (RIFKIN, 2014). Todavia, verifica-se que a aproximação com empresas tradicionais não significa o abandono da essência de compartilhamento e sustentabilidade socioambiental, inerentes às propostas de valor das atividades da economia compartilhada.

The economy of technology and adaptation (Dublado)

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Problemas na abordagem das variedades de capitalismo nas economias da América Latina

A abordagem da Variedades de Capitalismo (VoC) tem se mostrado uma poderosa e influente lente de análise da literatura mais antiga do capitalismo comparativo. Inicialmente concebida para aplicação imediata em economias capitalistas desenvolvidas do Norte, tem sido manejada para explicar aspectos econômicos e institucionais em contextos diversos. O presente trabalho traz como questão a adequação e suficiência dessa abordagem para compreensão de economias em desenvolvimento na América Latina. Partindo de uma aplicação teórica dessa abordagem para analisar as economias políticas da região e procedendo à uma avaliação crítica do sucesso dessa aplicação, a hipótese do presente trabalho é a de que, embora útil para explicar muitos aspectos dessas economias em desenvolvimento, ela é insuficiente e falha na compreensão completa desses capitalismos, sobretudo por não captar o papel preponderante do estado em suas conformações.

The Brazilian financial system and the green economy : alignment with sustainable development

Three studies were prepared and are presented in this document. The first, The Brazilian Financial Sector Institutional Context in the Transition to Sustainable Development looks at the legislation, regulation, and public policies aimed at socio-environmental themes related to the financial sector. The second study, Current Financing for the Green Economy in Brazil, provides an initial estimate of the financial assets already allocated to the green economy, as well as a methodological proposal for the survey and monitoring of the respective flow of assets. The third and final study looks at two important segments of the Brazilian economy and their process of transition to a greener economy: renewable energy and agriculture.

The creative and advanced technology economy in Brazil: executive summary

This document brings together in a succinct form the available data about the current state of the Creative and Advanced Technology Economy of Brazil, presents some suggestions for public policies which can contribute to the development of technological and creative activities, and also points to issues to be studied and actions to be carried out in the future.

Macroeconomic constraints to growth of Brazilian economy diagnosis and some policy proposals

The recent process of accelerated expansion of the Brazilian economy was driven by exports and fixed capital formation. Although the pace of growth was more robust than in the 1990´s, we can still witness the existence of certain macroeconomic constraints to its continuation in the long run such as, for instance, the exchange rate overvaluation in particular since 2005, and in general the modus operandi of monetary policy. Such constraints may jeopardize the sustainability of the current pace of growth. Therefore, we argue that Brazil still lies in a trap made up of high interest and low exchange rates. The elimination of the exchange rate misalignment would bring about a great increase in the rate of interest, which on its turn would impact negatively upon investment and hence upon the sustainability of long run economic growth. We outline a set of policy measures to eliminate such a trap, in particular, the adoption of an implicit target for the exchange rate, capital controls and the abandonment of the present regime of inflation targeting. Recent events seem to go in this direction.

The revenge of the market on the rentiers why neo-liberal reports of the end of history turned out to be premature

Starting from the perspective of heterodox Keynesian-Minskyian-Kindlebergian financial economics, this paper begins by highlighting a number of mechanisms that contributed to the current financial crisis. These include excess liquidity, income polarisation, conflicts between financial and productive capital, lack of intelligent regulation, asymmetric information, principal-agent dilemmas and bounded rationalities. However, the paper then proceeds to argue that perhaps more than ever the ‘macroeconomics’ that led to this crisis only makes analytical sense if examined within the framework of the political settlements and distributional outcomes in which it had operated. Taking the perspective of critical social theories the paper concludes that, ultimately, the current financial crisis is the outcome of something much more systemic, namely an attempt to use neo-liberalism (or, in US terms, neo-conservatism) as a new technology of power to help transform capitalism into a rentiers’ delight. And in particular, into a system without much ‘compulsion’ on big business; i.e., one that imposes only minimal pressures on big agents to engage in competitive struggles in the real economy (while inflicting exactly the opposite fate on workers and small firms). A key component in the effectiveness of this new technology of power was its ability to transform the state into a major facilitator of the ever-increasing rent-seeking practices of oligopolistic capital. The architects of this experiment include some capitalist groups (in particular rentiers from the financial sector as well as capitalists from the ‘mature’ and most polluting industries of the preceding techno-economic paradigm), some political groups, as well as intellectual networks with their allies – including most economists and the ‘new’ left. Although rentiers did succeed in their attempt to get rid of practically all fetters on their greed, in the end the crisis materialised when ‘markets’ took their inevitable revenge on the rentiers by calling their (blatant) bluff.

Fracking, China and the Global Economy

We develop an intertemporal model of the international economy, where tradeable intermediate goods are produced with capital, labor and hydrocarbons, and used in the production of non-tradeable consumption and investment goods. The model is calibrated to 176 countries, grouped according to their characteristics. We conduct simulations about key events that are currently reshaping the world e.g., fracking and China's new model of development. The model reproduces closely the recent fall in oil prices and delivers results about the impact on global output and consumption, but also about the propagation to different countries through terms of trade and capital accumulation.

O estado como empregador de última instância: uma proposta de pleno emprego, estabilidade e condições dignas de trabalho para o Brasil

GOMES, Z. B. ; LOURENÇO, André Luís Cabral de . Atuação do Estado como empregador de última Instância: uma proposta para eliminar o desemprego estrutural do Brasil. In: Encontro Nacional de Economia Política, 13. 2008, João Pessoa/PB. Anais... João Pessoa: ENEP, 2008.