The first essay of this dissertation focuses on studying the relationship between private politics and corporate environmentalism. This work analyzes the determinants and effects of two private political actions, boycotts and proxy contests. The analysis shows that: (i) the size of a firm is an important predictor of whether a firm will be chosen as a target of an activist campaign; (ii) firms headquartered in states with larger environmental constituencies are more likely to be targeted by activist campaigns; (iii) "dirty firms" (with larger relative or absolute emissions and/or high level of regulatory scrutiny) are more likely to become targets of an activist campaign; and (iv) private political campaigns are effective in improving the environmental performance of their targets. The second essay examines the trends in Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and investigates the effects of major changes in the economy on measures of TFP in eight industries during the Interwar period from 1919 through 1939. TFP estimates show that each industry followed a different path of TFP change. There is no consistent evidence on large TFP decline during the years 1929-33 in the industries studied, as proposed in the literature. TFP measures also do not support the hypothesis that the 1930s were a period of interrupted TFP growth but there is evidence that five industries out of eight had higher productivity in the 1930s than in the 1920s. Regression analysis of major determinants of the TFP change for the motor vehicles and the cotton goods industry shows that TFP fell with increases in employment and strike activity. The NRA code might have also contributed to a decline in TFP.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-13T17:10:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FranciscoES_Geo.pdf: 1716748 bytes, checksum: dfde8ecb87503e2b9ea1d806c7611e0f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-06-15 / The public and private politics that was implemented in Natal, have always been attracting, great contingent of people in search of employments. However, not always, they can attend the migratory demands. Recently, Nova Parnamirim that is situated in the municipal district of Parnamirim - RN, due to proximity with Natal, it is passing for an intensive and accelerated occupation process impelled by the urban politics that created and they determined new diversities, leaning in the growth of the modern tertiary. In this context, Nova Parnamirim is suffering, along the time, substantial transformations in your espace, so much of nature social as environmental, that are affecting in the quality of your residents' life. This fact is mainly linked in the absence of an appropriate urban planning that have to be considered as an instrument norteador of the development of the city in its constant construction process. The study has as objective to analyze the social-space dynamics of the area and their implications, identifying the principal agents that promote and they benefit of that urbanization process. For the ccomplishment of this research it was executed bibliographical readings that turn of theoretical studies about the urban subjects and enviroments, besides field activities for the rising of the data investigated in the methodological approach / As pol?ticas p?blicas e privadas implementadas em Natal t?m atra?do grande contingente de pessoas em busca de empregos. Contudo, nem sempre, essas pol?ticas podem atender as demandas migrat?rias. Recentemente, Nova Parnamirim, situada no munic?pio de Parnamirim - RN, aliada ? proximidade com Natal, est? passando por um processo de ocupa??o intensivo e acelerado impulsionado pelas pol?ticas urbanas que criaram e determinaram novas diversidades, apoiadas no crescimento do terci?rio moderno. Nesse contexto, Nova Parnamirim vem sofrendo, ao longo do tempo, transforma??es substanciais no seu espa?o, tanto de natureza social quanto ambiental, que est?o se refletindo na qualidade de vida de seus moradores. Este fato est? ligado, principalmente, a aus?ncia de um planejamento urbano adequado que deve ser considerado como um instrumento norteador do desenvolvimento da cidade em seu constante processo de constru??o. O estudo tem como objetivo analisar a din?mica s?cio-espacial da ?rea e suas implica??es, identificando os principais agentes que promovem e se beneficiam desse processo de urbaniza??o. Para a realiza??o desta pesquisa, efetivou-se leituras bibliogr?ficas que versam de estudos te?ricos sobre as quest?es urbanas e ambientais, al?m de atividades de campo para o levantamento dos dados investigados na abordagem metodol?gica