Law and economics in the civil law world: the case of Brazilian Courts

Conventional wisdom holds that economic analysis of law is either embryonic or nonexistent outside of the United States generally and in civil law jurisdictions in particular. Existing explanations for the assumed lack of interest in the application of economic reasoning to legal problems range from the different structure of legal education and academia outside of the United States to the peculiar characteristics of civilian legal systems. This paper challenges this view by documenting and explaining the growing use of economic reasoning by Brazilian courts. We argue that, given the ever-greater role of courts in the formulation of public policies, the application of legal principles and rules increasingly calls for a theory of human behavior (such as that provided by economics) to help foresee the likely aggregate consequences of different interpretations of the law. Consistent with the traditional role of civilian legal scholarship in providing guidance for the application of law by courts, the further development of law and economics in Brazil is therefore likely to be mostly driven by judicial demand.

Os mecanismos de governança do saneamento básico no Brasil : um estudo de direito administrativo sob a perspectiva da economia dos custos de transação

O serviço público de saneamento básico tem relevância amplamente reconhecida. Apesar disso, ainda são verificados no Brasil elevados índices de déficit ou de atendimento precário, com situações distintas nas diversas regiões do país. Nesse sentido, o objetivo desta dissertação é (i) apresentar, a partir da perspectiva interdisciplinar da Economia dos Custos de Transação, uma compreensão do serviço público de saneamento básico no Brasil, atualmente regulamentado pela Lei nº 11.445/2007, (ii) avaliar a eficiência do modo de governança majoritariamente utilizado e, (iii) eventualmente, propor desenhos alternativos para a organização da prestação que sejam economicamente superiores em temos de redução de custos de transação para a realização de investimentos necessários ao cumprimento dos objetivos fundamentais definidos no art. 2º, da Lei nº 11.445/2007. A pesquisa adotou como estratégia metodológica a utilização de uma abordagem interdisciplinar de direito, economia e organizações, nos termos da análise econômica da nova economia institucional. A partir o estudo do ambiente institucional básico, com apoio no referencial teórico, observou-se que o mecanismo de governança predominantemente utilizado no serviço público de saneamento básico no Brasil, isto é, delegações a Companhias Estaduais de Saneamento por meio de contratos de longo-prazo (contratos de programa), não favorece a realização de investimentos em ativos específicos (infraestrutura) necessários à prestação e cumprimentos de metas da política. Foi também constatado que existem alternativas de governança viáveis ao desenho predominante, embora a utilização de formas alternativas provavelmente não possua execução viável pelo simples transplante de normas, isto é, pela via formal. A modificação da forma de governança predominante no saneamento básico no Brasil, com a superação do baixo desempenho verificado (low-level equilíbrium), não é possível de ser realizada sem custos. Nesse sentido, é necessário superar os custos para o rompimento do path dependence provocado pelo hold up realizado pelas Companhias Estaduais de Saneamento Básico sobre os titulares do serviço público (municípios), bem como os custos para o rompimento do path dependence no direito administrativo brasileiro, o qual restringe o desenvolvimento de uma teoria jurídica da regulação apta a viabilizar a construção de uma governança regulatória adequada à redução dos custos de transação, de modo a tornar viáveis investimentos em ativos de infraestruturas com elevado grau de especificidade.

Some notes about the determination of current account equilibrium real exchange rate and the relation between real exchange rate and productive specialization

The objective of these notes is to present a simple mathematical model of the determination of current account real exchange rate as defined by Bresser-Pereira (2010); i.e. the real exchange rate that guarantees the inter temporal equilibrium of balance of payments and to show the relation between Real Exchange rate and Productive Specialization at theoretical and empirical level.

The economics of wage-led recovery: analysis and policy recommendations

The financial crisis and Great Recession have been followed by a jobs shortage crisis that most forecasts predict will persist for years given current policies. This paper argues for a wage-led recovery and growth program which is the only way to remedy the deep causes of the crisis and escape the jobs crisis. Such a program is the polar opposite of the current policy orthodoxy, showing how much is at stake. Winning the argument for wage-led recovery will require winning the war of ideas about economics that has its roots going back to Keynes’ challenge of classical macroeconomics in the 1920s and 1930s. That will involve showing how the financial crisis and Great Recession were the ultimate result of three decades of neoliberal policy, which produced wage stagnation by severing the wage productivity growth link and made asset price inflation and debt the engine of demand growth in place of wages; showing how wage-led policy resolves the current problem of global demand shortage without pricing out labor; and developing a detailed set of policy proposals that flow from these understandings. The essence of a wage-led policy approach is to rebuild the link between wages and productivity growth, combined with expansionary macroeconomic policy that fills the current demand shortfall so as to push the economy on to a recovery path. Both sets of measures are necessary. Expansionary macro policy (i.e. fiscal stimulus and easy monetary policy) without rebuilding the wage mechanism will not produce sustainable recovery and may end in fiscal crisis. Rebuilding the wage mechanism without expansionary macro policy is likely to leave the economy stuck in the orbit of stagnation.

Deuterium Equilibrium Time in Saliva of Newborn Infants

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Spatio-temporal dynamics and transition from asymptotic equilibrium to bounded oscillations in Chrysomya albiceps (Diptera, Calliphoridae)

The sensitivity of parameters that govern the stability of population size in Chrysomya albiceps and describe its spatial dynamics was evaluated in this study. The dynamics was modeled using a density-dependent model of population growth. Our simulations show that variation in fecundity and mainly in survival has marked effect on the dynamics and indicates the possibility of transitions from one-point equilibrium to bounded oscillations. C. albiceps exhibits a two-point limit cycle, but the introduction of diffusive dispersal induces an evident qualitative shift from two-point limit cycle to a one fixed-point dynamics. Population dynamics of C. albiceps is here compared to dynamics of Cochliomyia macellaria, C. megacephala and C. putoria.

Dynamics of experimental populations of native and introduced blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae): mathematical modelling and the transition from asymptotic equilibrium to bounded oscillations

The equilibrium dynamics of native and introduced blowflies is modelled using a density-dependent model of population growth that takes into account important features of the life-history in these flies. A theoretical analysis indicates that the product of maximum fecundity and survival is the primary determinant of the dynamics. Cochliomyia macellaria, a blowfly native to the Americas and the introduced Chrysomya megacephala and Chrysomya putoria, differ in their dynamics in that the first species shows a damping oscillatory behavior leading to a one-point equilibrium, whereas in the last two species population numbers show a two-point limit cycle. Simulations showed that variation in fecundity has a marked effect on the dynamics and indicates the possibility of transitions from one-point equilibrium to bounded oscillations and aperiodic behavior. Variation in survival has much less influence on the dynamics.

Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of alpha-Hydroxy-beta-methyl-gamma-hydroxy Esters: Role of the Keto-Enol Equilibrium To Control the Stereoselective Hydrogenation in a Key Step

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Surface equilibrium angle for anisotropic grain growth in SnO2 systems

Usually, the kinetic models used in the study of sintered ceramic are performed by means of indirect physical tests, such as, results obtained from data of linear shrinkage and mass loss. This fact is justified by the difficulty in the determinations of intrinsic parameters of ceramic materials along every sintering process. In this way, the technique of atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used in order to determine the importance and the evolution of the dihedral angle in the sintering of 0.5 mol% MnO2-doped tin dioxide obtained by the polymeric precursor method.

A Contribution to the Estimation of Binary Halide and Pseudo-Halide Equilibrium Constants using a Linear Extrapolation Methodology

The molar single ion activity coefficient (y(F)) of fluoride ions was determined at 25 degrees C and ionic strengths between 0.100 and 3.00 mol L(-1) NaClO(4) using an ion-selective electrode. The activity coefficient dependency on ionic strength was determined to be Phi(F) = log y(F) = 0.2315I-0.041I(2). The function Phi(F)(I), combined with functions obtained in previous work for copper (Phi(Cu)) and hydrogen (Phi(H)), allowed us to make the estimation of the stoichiometric and thermodynamic protonation constants of some halides and pseudo-halides as well as the formation constants of some pseudo-halides and fluoride 1:1 bivalent cation complexes. The calculation procedure proposed in this paper is consistent with critically-selected experimental data. It was demonstrated that it is possible to use Phi(F)(I) for predicting the thermodynamic equilibrium parameters independently of Pearson's hardness of acids and bases.

Equilibrium, Thermoanalytical and Spectroscopic Studies to Characterize Phytic Acid Complexes with Mn(II) and Co(II)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Environmental coordination chemistry: Binary systems comprising some bivalent cations and monocarboxylates in aqueous solution. Ionic medium effects on equilibrium constants

The molar single activity coefficients associated with propionate ion (Pr) have been determined at 25 degrees C and ionic strengths comprised between 0.300 and 3.00 M, adjusted with NaClO4, as background electrolyte. The investigation was carried out potentiometrically by using a second class Hg/Hg2Pr2 electrode. It was found that the dependence of propionate activity coefficients as a function of ionic strength (I) can be assessed through the following empirical equation: log y(Pr) = -0.185 I-3/2 + 0.104 I-2. Next, simple equations relating stoichiometric protonation constants of several monocarboxylates and formation constants associated with 1:1 complexes involving some bivalent cations and selected monocarboxylates, in aqueous solution, at 25 degrees C, as a function of ionic strength were derived, allowing the interconversion of parameters from one ionic strength to another, up to I = 3.00 M. In addition, thermodynamic formation constants as well as parameters associated with activity coefficients of the complex species in the equilibria are estimated. The body of results shows that the proposed calculation procedure is very consistent with critically selected experimental data.

Ionic medium effects on equilibrium constants .2. Binary systems comprising some bivalent cations and monocarboxylates in aqueous solution

Simple equations were derived relating stoichiometric protonation constants of several monocarboxylates and formation constants associated with 1:1 complexes involving some bivalent cations and selected monocarboxylates, in aqueous sodium perchlorate media, at 25 degrees C, as a function of ionic strength (I), allowing the interconversion of parameters from one ionic strength to another, up to I = 3.00 M. In addition, thermodynamic formation constants as well as activity coefficients of the species involved in the equilibria were estimated. The results show that the proposed calculation procedure is very consistent with critically selected experimental data.