This thesis explores the effects of institutions on macroeconomic performance. It does so in two main chapters, a summary of each of which is given below. In the first main chapter of the thesis, the interactions between government spending, government borrowing, political corruption and political turnover were examined. Incorporating these factors in a sovereign default model, we show how sovereign default decisions and business cycle fluctuations are affected by the level of corruption. In particular, we show that when there is turnover, corruption can generate higher risks of default and higher credit spreads when there is enough stability. Intuitively, we establish that a change in power from a less corrupt to a more corrupt government is more likely to cause default than the reverse. The results also shows that households suffer welfare losses as a result of corruption. As regards business cycles, the general effect of corruption is to alter business cycle statistics. Further, we estimate an empirical model using data on sovereign default, corruption, political stability and other macroeconomic variables for a sample of emerging economies. The results of this provide strong evidence of a positive relationship between both corruption and political stability and sovereign default. The second main chapter of the thesis looks at the effects of limited financial contract enforcement in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium framework where firms have access to both internal and external means of finance. The results shows how limited enforceability affects fluctuations in key macroeconomic variables (e.g., output, employment and price) through its impact on key financial variables (e.g., interest rates, risk premium, default risk and leverage). In particular, we find that weaker enforcement tends to amplify the effects of shocks, creating greater volatility, as well as lowering small firm funding. We provide some empirical evidence to support our results. Using cross-country data on measures of financial market imperfections, we find that limited enforcement has a negative effect on output and that this effect is exacerbated by poor credit information. We also find that weaker contract enforcement is associated with higher output volatility.

Le développement rapide des fonds souverains ces dernières années est un des sujets marquants de l'évolution des marchés financiers. Pourtant, il existe encore peu de recherches scientifiques dans ce domaine, compte tenu du très faible niveau d'information sur ces fonds. L'objet de notre étude est d'une part d'essayer de mieux comprendre les stratégies d'investissement, les déterminants qui expliquent les décisions d'investissement et les performances des fonds souverains. D'autre part, nous analysons l'impact des fonds souverains sur les performances des entreprises dans lesquelles les fonds souverains ont investi, et aussi sur les marchés financiers. Nos résultats indiquent que les fonds souverains présentent généralement des rentabilités satisfaisantes. Pourtant, la crise financière et les difficultés de l'économie ont influencé fortement leurs performances. La performance des fonds souverains est influencée aussi par leurs stratégies d'investissement. Nous constatons que les déterminants de l'allocation d'investissement des fonds souverains changent selon les périodes et selon les fonds souverains. Les résultats de notre étude indiquent que l'impact de l'investissement des fonds souverains sur la performance des entreprises est positif. Ils mettent en avant que le niveau de transparence des fonds souverains influence les réactions positives du prix des actions aux annonces des investissements de ces fonds. Plus le niveau de transparence des fonds souverains est élevé, plus la réaction positive est forte. Notre étude permet de mieux comprendre la stratégie et le comportement d'investissement des fonds souverains. En évaluant l'impact des fonds souverains sur les marchés financiers et sur la performance des firmes dans lesquelles ils investissent, elle contribue à mieux comprendre les performances des fonds souverains et des entreprises qui attirent les investissements des fonds souverains. / The rapid growth of sovereign wealth funds in recent years is one of the prominent subjects of the financial markets evolution. Yet, there has been very little academic research in this domain, taking in account the very low level of information on these funds. The purpose of our study is to understand the investment strategies, the determinants that explain the investment decisions and the evolution of the SWFs performance. On the other hand, we try to shed some light at the impact of SWFs on the performance of companies in which they invested, and on the financial markets. Our results indicate that the SWFs' returns are generally satisfactory. However, the financial crisis and the difficulties of the economies have greatly influenced their performance. The performance of SWFs is also influenced by the investment strategies. We find that the determinants of investment allocation of SWFs change over the time and in accordance to SWFs. The results of our study show that the impact of SWF investments on the performance of the companies is positive. They also indicate that the level of transparency of SWFs influence the positive reaction of stock prices to the announcements of investments by these funds. The greater the level of transparency of SWFs, the positive reaction is stronger. Our study provides a better understanding of strategies and investment behaviors of SWFs. By evaluating the impact of SWFs on the financial markets and on the performance of firms in which they invest, it contributes to enhance current understanding on the performance of SWFs and of the companies that attract SWF investments.

Cette thèse propose de partir de l’État en tant qu’objet historique afin de comprendre ses relations avec l’arbitrage d’un point de vue de droit public. Elle adopte une étude fonctionnelle et introduit des éléments de droit comparé afin d’éclairer ces relations. Les fonctions de l’État dans l’arbitrage reflètent en effet l’évolution de la forme étatique, tout comme cette évolution explique leur nature et leur diversité. L’analyse des fonctions de l’État dans l’arbitrage mène ainsi au constant d’une série de dualités porteuses de tensions. Dualité d’abord entre deux grands types de fonctions étatiques qui structurent ce travail : les fonctions de puissance de l’État d’une part et les fonctions de régulation de l’État dans l’arbitrage d’autre part. Les premières correspondent aux fonctions traditionnelles de l’État moderne de juridiction, d’édiction et d’exécution et sont profondément imprégnées de l’idée de monopole étatique et de hiérarchie. Les secondes sont apparues plus récemment, en partie en réaction à deux globalisations économiques génératrices de réalités transnationales sur lesquelles l’État ne peut pas agir de manière efficace à travers ses fonctions de puissance. Dualité ensuite au sein de chacune des fonctions de puissance étatiques qui évoluent sous cette même pression ainsi qu’entre des fonctions de régulations directes et des fonctions de régulation indirectes de l’État dans l’arbitrage. Au sein de chacune de ces dualités, plutôt qu’un passage d’un pôle à un autre, on assiste à leur coexistence parfois conflictuelle. / This study takes the historical figure of the sovereign state as a point of departure in order to understand its relationship with arbitration from a public law perspective. To do so, it adopts a functional approach and introduces elements of comparative law. In fact, the sovereign functions in arbitration mirror the evolution of the sovereign state, while that evolution explains their nature and diversity. The analysis of sovereign functions in arbitration leads to identify a number of dichotomies that are a potential sources of conflicts. First, there is a dichotomy between functions of power in arbitration and regulatory functions in arbitration from which this study borrows its structure. The functions of power encompass the traditional jurisdictional, legislative and executive functions characteristic of the modern state and are linked to the ideas of state monopoly and hierarchy. The regulatory functions of the state are more recent, and emerged as a reaction to two economic globalizations that engendered transnational phenomena which cannot be ruled in an efficient manner through the sovereign’s functions of power. Second, there are dichotomies within each function of power when applies to arbitration as well as a dichotomy between direct and indirect regulatory functions in arbitration. Within each of these dichotomies, rather than a shift from one pole to the other, it is possible to observe a coexistence of both poles.

[pt] O presente estudo tem por objetivo entender as variáveis que influenciaram o comportamento do Risco Soberano do Brasil no período de janeiro de 1995 a março de 2003. Para isso, usam-se os métodos estatísticos conhecidos como Regressão Múltipla e Matriz de Correlação de Pearson, assim como uma pesquisa profunda nos artigos sobre este tema. Apresenta-se como resultado do trabalho uma indicação da força que as variáveis conjunturais (nacionais e internacionais) possuem frente às variáveis econômicas (estruturais). Além disso, deixa-se como um desafio para novas pesquisas o desenvolvimento de um modelo preditivo baseando-se em Séries Temporais e nas dificuldades existentes neste trabalho. / [en] This study is designed to understand the variables that explain the Brazilian Sovereign Risk. To fulfill such an objective, statistical methods known as Multiple Regression and Pearson Correlation and analysis of many papers about this subject are employed. As result of this work, the study shows the power of external variables against economic variables to explain the behavior of Brazilian Sovereign Risk. The study shows too some economic variables that are significant to explain the behavior of Brazilian Sovereign Risk, as realized at the papers. Finally, a challenger to develop a Time Series model in order to forecast de Brazilian Sovereign Risk is placed.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:27:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AndreMLA.pdf: 943466 bytes, checksum: 1ea37e7af8ee803c9223422cfd499f9f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-05-11 / The present work has for object the Jury under the democratic optics, looking for to demonstrate its democratic validation. The purpose of this work was to revisit the institution, in order to bring its importance while instrument of popular participation. The work presents, first, a systematic and chronological approach of the institution of the Jury and its evolution inside of Brazilian constitutional history, objectifying, with this, to approach the narrow entailing of the Jury with the constitutional postulates. After that, the constitutional principles of the Jury had been examined, looking for to establish the popular identity of the institution and its approach with the human rights system of the Brazilian Federal Constitution. More ahead, had been examined the direct participation of the society in the Jury, going deep the questions related with the election of the jurors and the jury nullification on the American Jury. Finally, had been dedicated the study of the current conjuncture of the Brazilian Jury, its problems and the possible solutions, beyond the study of the limitation's mechanisms in the constitutional principle of the popular supremacy and the reform's projects suggested for legislators and jurists. In this way, had been looked elaborate a constitutional construction of the Jury, defending its permanence in the Brasil law system, for being a fundamental guarantee to protect the freedom, moreover for being essential to validate the Democratic State of Right, for to be the materialization of the democratic principle. For opportune, it's necessary to allege that this work had been directed to the constitutional analysis of the Jury, its legitimacy and its democratic vocation, using themselves as ideological north the American Jury System and as philosophical base the social contract theory, understanding the Jury as an instrument of protection of the society front to the state supremacy and its hierarchy structure of the power / O presente trabalho tem por objeto a an?lise do J?ri sob a ?tica democr?tica, procurando demonstrar a sua necessidade ? pr?pria valida??o do Estado Democr?tico de direito. A finalidade deste trabalho foi revisitar a institui??o, a fim de trazer ? tona a sua import?ncia enquanto instrumento de participa??o popular. O trabalho apresenta, primeiramente, uma abordagem sistem?tica e cronol?gica do J?ri e sua evolu??o dentro da hist?ria constitucional brasileira, objetivando, com isso, abordar a sua estreita vincula??o com os postulados constitucionais. Em seguida, foram examinados os princ?pios constitucionais do J?ri, estabelecendo-se a sua identidade com o sistema de prote??o dos direitos fundamentais da atual constitui??o. Mais adiante, foi analisada a participa??o direta da sociedade no J?ri, aprofundando as quest?es relacionadas com a sele??o dos jurados e poder de veto do J?ri no sistema americano. Por fim, foi dedicado o estudo da atual conjuntura do J?ri brasileiro, seus problemas e as poss?veis solu??es, abordando os principais mecanismos de limita??o da soberania dos veredictos, as cr?ticas e propostas de reforma do J?ri sugerida por legisladores e juristas. Desse modo, procurou-se elaborar uma constru??o constitucional do J?ri, defendendo a sua perman?ncia no sistema jur?dico brasileiro, por tratar-se de garantia fundamental ao direito de liberdade, e ainda pela sua essencialidade ? pr?pria validade do Estado Democr?tico de Direito, por representar a materializa??o do princ?pio democr?tico. Por oportuno, mister se faz aduzir que a presente se dirige ? an?lise constitucional do J?ri, sua legitimidade e sua voca??o democr?tica, utilizando-se como norte ideol?gico o modelo americano de J?ri e como base filos?fica a teoria do contrato social, compreendendo o J?ri como instrumento de prote??o da sociedade frente ? supremacia estatal e sua estrutura hierarquizante de poder

Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Esta tese de doutorado é dedicada ao estudo do pensamento de Nietzsche quanto à liberdade e à responsabilidade. Circunscrevendo-se no período que vai de Humano, demasiado Humano até as obras da maturidade produtiva do filósofo, o autor busca identificar os diversos meios que o pensador usou para tentar conceber uma noção de liberdade individual que não incorresse nos pressupostos metafísicos que historicamente determinaram seu conceito, problematizando assim as noções de sujeito, autodeterminação, intencionalidade, vontade, metas, motivos da ação e, particulamente, a noção de responsabilidade. Por meio da análise crítica de determinadas referências teóricas do filósofo, junto de uma leitura cronológica que acompanha as transformações conceituais presentes nas obras publicadas e nas anotações póstumas, esta pesquisa mostra o caminho de experimentação por meio do qual o pensamento de Nietzsche tomou forma e amadureceu ao longo dos anos. O problema que orienta toda a concepção da tese é o questionamento sobre como ser possível a responsabilidade no interior da própria desconstrução do sentido quanto aos critérios de avaliação das ações, de seus motivos e objetivos. Neste sentido, esta pesquisa investiga como Nietzsche busca por outros critérios que possibilitem avaliações e ações com engajamento efetivo e duradouro. Na medida em que sua busca por superação da metafísica envolve o ensaio de pensar num outro modo de relação com a prática de estabilização do devir que não exclua a assunção de sua vigência e as consequências disso, o autor postula a hipótese interpretativa de que o ideal moral de Nietzsche reside na figura do indivíduo soberano apresentado em Para a Genealogia da Moral, no qual se concretizaria a viabilidade de uma forma de comprometimento com projetos e pessoas, reinstaurando-se a liberdade e a responsabilidade como critérios de autorealização que superem, ao mesmo tempo, os seus tradicionais critérios metafísico-niilistas, por meio de uma outra compreensão de subjetividade e de autodeterminação, a partir da prática de experimentos de auto superação que não incorram necessariamente na impossibilidade de engajamentos duradouros. / The study of Nietzsche's thoughts on freedom and responsibility is at the center of this doctorates thesis. The research focused on the period from Human, All Too Human to the productive works of the philosophers maturity. The author aims to identify the various means that the thinker used to try to envisage a notion of individual freedom that is not subjected to the metaphysical assumptions that historically determined its concept. Thus questioning the notions of subject, self-determination, intentionality, will, goals, and actions motives, in particular, the notion of responsibility. Through critical analysis of particular theoretical references of the philosopher, alongside chronological reading of the conceptual transformations present in the published works and posthumous notes, this research shows the path of experimentation through which Nietzsche's thought took shape and matured over the years. The questionof how responsibility could be possible when its meaning is deconstructed in terms of traditionalcriteria for evaluating actions, their motives and goals, guides the thesis. In this sense, this research investigates how Nietzsche searches for other criteria that enable reviews and actions with effective and lasting engagement. Insofar as his quest to supersedemetaphysics involves the practicing of thinking in another way of relating with the practice of stabilization of becoming that does not exclude the assumption of its validity and the consequences of such, the author postulates an interpretive hypothesis. This contends that the moral ideal of Nietzsche lies in the figure of the sovereign individual presented in On the Genealogy of Morals. In this figure, the feasibility of a form of commitment to projects and people would materialize, reintroducing freedom and responsibility as criteria for self-realization that overcome, at the same time, their traditional metaphysical nihilist criteria. This being achieved by means of further understanding of subjectivity and self-determination, from the practice of experiments of self-overcoming, which do not necessarily entail the impossibility of lasting commitments.

This diploma paper focuses on progress of the pharish in Horažďovice in years 1251 {--} 1850. It was the incorporate pharish of the Sovereign Order of Malta, to wich was not given the research interest before now. This thesis tries to discover the chronologic progress and changes of the parish in the watched period, based primarily on the resources of archives. Further tries to see into the situation of incorporated pharish in terms of dioceses and archidioceses. The work is divided into nine chapters. After the introduction with definition the theme theme of the research and evaluation the used sources succeeds a short chapter about the Order, its history and hierarchy abroad also in the czech province. Following four chapters (forming the main part of the thesis) inscribe the six-hundred long progress of the pharish in Horažďovice. The next part is devoted to the parsons, the parish church St. Peter and Paul and its asset. The ninth chapter dissertates about the situation of the monastic incorporated pharish in the arcidiocese of Prague and the diocese of České Budějovice. This situation is illustrated on example of the Maltese pharish in Horažďovice. The keynotes of the archival research summarizes the conclusion, wich is followed by a list of the abbreviations used, sources and the literature and the annexes.

O presente trabalho examinará a temática da imunidade de jurisdição do Estado estrangeiro em relação às violações aos Direitos Humanos. Na primeira parte, será abordada a configuração do instituto da imunidade de jurisdição do Estado estrangeiro, analisando seus fundamentos (soberania, independência, igualdade e dignidade), operando a distinção entre jurisdição, competência e imunidade do Estado estrangeiro, abordando a questão da transição do paradigma absoluto ao relativo e examinando como se deu esta transição na jurisprudência do Brasil. Na segunda parte do trabalho, tratar-se-á da oposição entre os Direitos Humanos em relação à imunidade de jurisdição do Estado estrangeiro, examinando-se as novas abordagens teóricas a respeito (teoria da renúncia implícita, teoria da hierarquia normativa, teoria da jurisdição universal, teoria da opção e da calculabilidade do risco, teoria e teoria do benefício coletivo), bem como suas repercussões jurisprudenciais, além de se propor uma síntese entre as teorias, para, finalmente, analisar o panorama jurisprudencial brasileiro na questão da imunidade de jurisdição em relação a violações de Direitos Humanos por Estado estrangeiro. / This paper will examine the issue of sovereign immunity regarding Human Rights violations. The first part will look at the configuration of the State’s jurisdictional immunity, analyzing its foundations (sovereignty, independence, equality and dignity), operating the distinction between jurisdiction, competence and sovereign immunity, addressing the transition from the absolutist paradigm to a relative one and examining how this transition occurred in Brazilian case-law. In the second part, the opposition between Human Rights and State’s jurisdictional immunity will be addressed by examining new theoretical approaches about the issue ( the implied waiver theory, the normative hierarchy theory, the universal jurisdiction theory, the option-risk calculability theory and the theory of collective benefit) as well as its repercussions in case law, in addition to proposing a synthesis between the theories, to finally analyze the Brazilian case-law on the question of sovereign immunity and Human Rights violations.

O objetivo desta dissertação é avaliar o impacto de mudanças de rating soberano sobre a taxa de câmbio de países emergentes. Embora a literatura relacionada já tenha estudado o impacto de mudanças de rating soberano sobre ações, títulos e até fluxo de capital, nada foi feito sobre taxas de câmbio. Todavia, taxas de câmbio devem responder de maneira interessante a mudanças de rating, pois além de serem ativos financeiros, as moedas desempenham a função de intermediar o investimento estrangeiro nos demais ativos domésticos. Empregamos a metodologia de estudo de evento acrescentando a ela uma modificação que nos permite controlar a análise por efeitos agregados. Utilizando uma base de dados diária de taxas de câmbio de 23 países emergentes encontramos, grosso modo, evidências de que downgrades estão associados a depreciações da moeda doméstica, ao passo que, upgrades não provocam nenhuma reação significativa na taxa de câmbio. Este resultado vai ao encontro da literatura que estuda o impacto de mudanças de rating em ações, títulos e fluxo de capitais. Além disso, dentre ainda outros resultados, encontramos evidências de que o mercado antecipa o evento relevante e que não há efeitos defasados. / The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the impact of sovereign rating changes on the exchange rate of emerging markets. Although the related literature has studied the impact of sovereign rating changes on stocks, bonds and even capital flows, nothing has been done on exchange rates. However, exchange rates should respond in an interesting way to rating changes because the currency is a financial asset and has a role in intermediating foreign investment in other domestic assets. We employ the event study methodology by adding to it an amendment that allows us to control the analysis by aggregate effects. Using a database of daily exchange rates of 23 developing countries, we found evidence that downgrades are associated with depreciations of the domestic currency, whereas, upgrades do not cause any significant reaction in the exchange rate. This result is consistent with the literature that studies the impact of rating changes on stocks, bonds and capital flows. Moreover, even among other results, we find evidence that the market anticipates the relevant event and there is no lagged effects on the market.

This Master's thesis focuses on the analysis of the competitiveness of the Spanish economy. It studies how to measure and express competitiveness. It also describes the path of Spain to economic growth through periods of recession and looks into the different Spanish economic sectors and thoroughly examines the economic situation of the various autonomous communities. This thesis also includes a case study of the Catalan separatist movement. The last chapter tries to make an economic outlook.