Public-private partnerships and scale efficiency in Brazilian ports: Evidence from two-stage DEA analysis

This paper assesses the impacts of public-private partnerships on major Brazilian public ports. It is proposed that these kinds of arrangements with private terminal operators could help achieving higher levels of scale efficiency by enhancing coordination processes, providing more adequate information technologies, and higher connectivity with other transportation modes. Methodology relies on factor extraction of inputs/outputs as a first step to compute DEA efficiency estimates, followed by truncated bootstrapped regression analysis to test different contextual variables. Results indicate a strong positive impact of public-private partnerships on port scale efficiency, corroborating their impacts in relation to the most productive scale size.     

MIGRATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN BRAZIL: EMPIRICAL APPLICATIONS BASED ON THE SOLOW‐SWAN MODEL

The paper addresses the question of whether migration plays a role in the determination of the per capita incomes in sub‐regions of Brazil. In order to discuss this relationship, we slightly modified the Solow‐Swan model with migration to better resemble the Brazilian context. Based on this model, we determined theoretically five different possibilities for the spatial dynamics regarding net migration, human capital differentials between migrants and nonmigrants, and capital stock per effective worker. We applied this framework to census data and the microregions in Brazil were empirically classified in one or other of these possibilities with the multivariate technique of cluster analysis. Finally, we used econometric models with instrumental variables applied to panel data and observed a tendency of increase in the variability of per capita income due to migration.     

Pop‐management literature: popular business press and management culture in Brazil

As in other emerging countries, the 1990s in Brazil were characterized by profound economic changes. The business press reflected and influenced this process. Newspapers and magazines grew and assumed an important role, disseminating values associated with neoliberalism and managerialism. In this paper, we aim to contribute to the understanding of the content produced by this media and how the readership reacts to this content. To accomplish these objectives, we used the method of fantasy theme analysis (Bormann, 1972) to analyze four business magazines, and we discuss how Brazilian culture mediates the assimilation of foreign ideas and managerial expertise. Our study also helps to understand how the pop‐management literature, disseminated by the business press, echoes and reinforces managerialism and management culture. Copyright © 2008 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does the Privatization of State Companies Improve Their Performance? Evidence from the Brazilian Case

Abstract

In this study, a number of economic-financial indicators were compared for 59 Brazilian state companies during the years of 1990 to 1997 before and after they were privatized. of these, 43 were federal companies and the rest were from various states. Thirty represented sales of control and the remaining were sales of minority positions in the companies. The tests performed confirmed the results of earlier empirical studies. The companies became more efficient and profitable after the privatization with the best performance concentrated in the subgroups where control was divested which is consistent with the idea that privatization improves the incentives for workers and administrators of the organization.     

Controlling deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: Regional economic impacts and land-use change

Brazil confirmed targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in 2008, including an 80% reduction in deforestation in the Amazon by 2020. With this in mind, we investigated the trade-off between environmental conservation and economic growth in the Amazon. The aim of this study is to project the economic losses and land-use changes resulting from a policy to control deforestation and the rise in land productivity that is necessary to offset those losses. We developed a Dynamic Interregional Computable General Equilibrium Model for 30 Amazon regions with a land module allowing conversion between types of land. The results have shown that the most affected regions would be soybeans and cattle producers as well as regions dominated by family farms. To offset these impacts, it was estimated that an annual gain of land productivity of approximately 1.4% would be required.     

巴西解决社会发展问题的措施与启示——兼谈巴西与中国经济关系的重要性

巴西是拉美第一经济大国,中巴两国同为发展中国家,两国经贸合作潜力巨大。深入观察和研究巴西经济社会发展现状、问题和采取的措施,对解决我国社会矛盾、构建社会主义和谐社会不无裨益。     

Factories, Forests, Fields and Family: Gender and Neoliberalism in Extractive Reserves

This paper explores the theoretical debates on extraction and development in Amazonia, and the emergence of extractive reserves (ERs) as a tropical development alternative. It reviews the role of women in Amazonian rural economies and then analyzes the (often invisible) tasks of women within the reserves through an analysis of the gender division of labour in the collecting and processing of non-timber forest products and agriculture. It then considers how lack of attention to rural women's labour obligations played out in a development project, Projeto Castanha, that began as an urban factory, but was later recast as a neoliberal decentralized processing and outsourcing programme. The project failed to appreciate the demands on, and the opportunity costs, of women's time and thus had very limited success as women withdrew their labour. The paper argues that there may be many more options for supporting extractive economies (and the women who work in them) in more peri-urban and village projects even though extractive reserves are valuable ecologically and socially in the regional economy.