服務貿易「模式四」涉及生產要素之一的勞動力跨境移動，其所能帶來之貿易利得相當可觀；然而，勞動力之移動向來不為地主國青睞，各國針對此等自然人服務提供者多所管制，造成模式四貿易之諸多障礙，致使模式四佔服務貿易總量之比例極低，而亟待開發。在盤點多邊與非多邊體制下WTO之GATS與TPP協定消弭模式四貿易障礙之成果後，本文發現，國際間對於模式四貿易障礙之消弭必須持續推動，方能早日獲致模式四貿易自由化附隨之經濟利益。奠基於上述多邊與非多邊體制之成果，本文提出未來國際間在持續消弭模式四貿易障礙之可行方向，並以現正如火如荼談判中之「服務貿易協定（TiSA）」為例，印證本文所建議之方向有其可行性。 / Mode 4 of trade in services entails the cross border movement of one of the factors of production: labor. The potential gains from labor mobility can be substantial; however, labor mobility has never been welcome. Numerous regulations imposed by the receiving countries on the natural persons as service suppliers create barriers to the Mode 4 trade, resulting in the fact that Mode 4 trade accounts for little proportion of all four modes of service supply. After conducting stock takes on the elimination results of Mode 4 trade barriers through the GATS and the TPP Agreement respectively under multilateral and non-multilateral trade regimes, this article argues that efforts to remove Mode 4 trade impediments should continue in order that the ensuing welfare gains from Mode 4 trade liberalization can ultimately be achieved. Based on the aforementioned elimination results under both multilateral and non-multilateral regimes, this article proposes several approaches to further elimination of Mode 4 trade barriers, taking the ongoing Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) as an example to verify the feasibility of the proposed approaches.

La problématique générale abordée dans cette thèse est la suivante : Peut-on continuer à libéraliser les échanges au niveau mondial sans simultanément faire respecter les règles de protection de l’environnement ?L’hypothèse d’une gouvernance mondiale pour un développement du durable du commerce et de l’environnement est-t-elle possible ?Ce débat relève d’une question fondamentale qui, historiquement, a souvent été abordée mais sans être jamaisréglée. Aujourd’hui, dans le contexte de crise actuelle et du processus de globalisation, il demeure d’une brûlante actualité.L’étude des relations du commerce et de l’environnement suscite un certain nombre d’interrogations, les interactions qui en découlent sont-elles compatibles.Les liens qui unissent l’économie et l’environnement sont désormais évidents, les effets de libération des échanges ont une incidence non négligeable sur l’environnement et inversement la protection de l’environnement influe nécessairement sur la nature de ces échanges.Les organisations et les institutions ayant pour objectif la protection de l’environnement sont- elles réellement efficaces ? Ne sont-elles pas trop éparpillées ? Ne manquent- elles pas de cohérence ?Les législations nationales et internationales sont- elles suffisantes ? Les dispositions sont-elles appliquées ?Dans un contexte ultra libéral, le phénomène de dérégularisation, semble favoriser l’épanouissement des activités économiques et financières au détriment d’un renforcement des mesures environnementales.Devant un tel constat, il semble de plus en plus opportun de parvenir à un rééquilibrage de la gouvernance mondiale en faveur de l’environnement. Quelles pourraient être, le cas échéant, les mesures à mettre en œuvre, les voies de conciliation envisageables pour harmoniser ces relations en apparence conflictuelles.Quelle est la position du droit international relatif à la protection de l’environnement face à celui du commerce.Il apparaît nécessaire d’envisager de combiner les règles du droit international du commerce fondées sur le dogme du libre échange et les impératifs vitaux du droit de la protection de l’environnement dans un cadre de développement durable.Doit-on envisager de créer pour cela une nouvelle enceinte internationale spécialisée qui régirait l’environnement mondial ? Ou au contraire renforcer une Organisation existante en la dotant d’une double compétence qui élaborerait un nouveau droit international du développement durable en édictant un corps de règles commerciales et environnementales unifiées et cohérentes ; (Une sorte d’international law of sustainable development) ?La transformation du système commercial multilatéral, le renforcement et le verdissement de ses structures apparaîsent comme des solutions possibles, pour parvenir à faire coexister les préoccupations environnementales et les exigences commerciales au sein d’un même cadre.Une autre gouvernance plus juste, plus équilibrée est possible, une mise en cohérence d’un ordre juridique environnemental et économique mondial n’est pas une utopie.Ce défi ambitieux représente probablement une occasion de juger de la nécessaire combinaison du droit de l’environnement et du commerce international. / Is the hypothesis of a more balanced global governance for the sustainable development ofboth trade and environment plausible?Are the institutions devoted to environmental protection really efficient?Are they not too scattered to be effective? Don’t they lack some kind of coherence?Can institutions in charge of trade development enforce environmental rules? Do they havethe means to do so?In an ultra-free market context the phenomenon of deregulation seems to favor thedevelopment of economic and financial activity at the expense of a strengthening ofenvironmental measures.It seems necessary to consider reconciling the rules of free trade-based international trade lawand the vital requirements of environmental protection law within the scope of sustainabledevelopment.Should then one contemplate creating a new specialized international body in charge ofgoverning the global environment? Or on the contrary, should one strengthen an alreadyexisting organization by granting it a dual competency , responsible for working out a newinternational sustainable development law by enacting a set of unified and coherent trade andenvironmental rules; ( A kind of international sustainable development law).The transformation of the multilateral system, the strengthening and the greening of itsstructures appear as possible solutions to handle both environmental concerns andcommercial requirements.This ambitious challenge of a fairer, more balanced global governance probably provides anopportunity to see how necessary it is to combine environmental law and international tradelaw; this coherence in global environmental and economic law seems possible.

L’objectif de la thèse est d’identifier la pertinence des modèles en équilibre général calculable (MEGC) pour analyser la problématique posée par les Accords de Partenariat Économique (APE) entre l’Union européenne et les pays ACP. Une revue de la littérature est d’abord réalisée, puis un modèle en équilibre général calculable (MEGC) à dynamique intertemporelle est construit pour analyser l’impact de l’APE sur un pays spécifique : le Ghana. À partir du constat portant sur la diversité des résultats de simulations, qui dépendent essentiellement de la structure du modèle et des modes de fermeture choisis par le modélisateur, ce travail cherche à mettre en évidence la largeur du faisceau de résultats possibles et l’impossibilité de mettre en avant les bénéfices potentiels qui peuvent être attendus d’un tel accord en s’appuyant simplement sur des MEGC néoclassiques standards. / This work aims to analyze to what extent the use of an applied general equilibrium model (AGE) allows to correctly assess the potential economic impact of EPAs between ACP countries and the European Union. First, a review of the literature is conducted and then an intertemporal dynamic AGE model is built in order to assess the potential impact of EPA on a specific country: Ghana. From the variety of results resulting from the models simulations and depending on hypothesis made on the model structure and the type of closure chosen by the modeler, our work aims to stress the risk of using standard neoclassical Walrasian models to assess the potential benefits of an EPA on ACP countries economy.

Aufbauend auf dem agrarökonomischen, dynamischen Optimierungsmodell MAgPIE, zeigen die hier vorgestellten Forschungsergebnisse, dass die Governance-Leistung einen bedeutenden Einfluss auf den technologischen Fortschritt und das Wachstum der Flächenproduktivität hat, insbesondere für in der Entwicklung begriffene Regionen wie Lateinamerika, Afrika südlich der Sahara, Südasien und Südostasien. Dies wirkt sich wiederum auf die Landnutzungsdynamik aus, einschließlich der Ausdehnung von Ackerflächen und der Entwaldung. Neben Umweltauswirkungen beeinflusst die Governance-Leistung auch Lebensmittelpreise und das Handelsverhalten, und damit die Existenzgrundlagen vieler Menschen. Darüber hinaus legt die Dissertation nahe, dass sich das globale Produktivitätswachstum trotz unterschiedlicher sozioökonomischer Bedingungen wahrscheinlich fortsetzen wird. Die Größenordnung der Wachstumsrate unter den jeweiligen Bedingungen variiert jedoch, je nach verwendeten Produktivitätsindizes. Unterschiede in den sozioökonomischen Gegebenheiten führen zu einer Zunahme des Produktivitätswachstums im Ackerbau, was tiefgreifende Auswirkungen auf die Anbaufläche und die Lebensmittelpreise hat. Nicht zuletzt zeigen die Ergebnisse der Dissertation, dass die Liberalisierung des Agrarhandels negative Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf das landwirtschaftliche Angebot abfedern kann, den Anstieg der Lebensmittelpreise im Zuge von erheblichen klimabedingten Ertragseinbußen begrenzen und die Ausdehnung der Anbauflächen im globalen Maßstab verringern kann. In bestimmten Regionen kann es aufgrund von veränderten Handelsmustern zu einer Ausdehnung der Anbauflächen kommen. In Zusammenschau der Ergebnisse aus den Einzelstudien vertieft die vorliegende Dissertation das Verständnis für potenzielle Zielkonflikte und Synergien von wirtschaftspolitischen Optionen, die darauf abzielen, die Produktionskapazitäten im landwirtschaftlichen Sektor der steigenden Nachfrage entsprechend auszubauen. / Building upon an agro-economic dynamic optimization model known as MAgPIE, this dissertation fseeks to enhance representation of the economic factors in the model. The research findings reveal that governance performance has a significant impact on technological progress and land productivity growth, especially for developing regions, such as Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. This, in turn, exerts impacts on land dynamics, including cropland expansion and deforestation. Aside from environmental impacts, governance performance affects livelihoods, as it influences food prices and trade patterns. Moreover, the dissertation suggests that global productivity growth is likely to continue, despite differences in possible socioeconomic conditions. However, the magnitude of the growth rate under each set of conditions will vary, according to different productivity indices. Differences in socioeconomic conditions lead to a spread in productivity growth in the crop sector, which will have profound implications for cropland expansion and food prices. Last but not least, the dissertation argues that liberalizing agricultural trade can buffer negative impacts from climate change on agricultural supply, limit increasing food prices in a scenario of high-end climate impacts on crop yields, and reduce cropland expansion on the global scale, though it may induce cropland expansion in certain regions due to changes in trade patterns. Synthesizing the findings from the individuals studies of which it is comprised, the dissertation is intended to enhance understanding of the trade-offs and synergies of economic options for agricultural outputs to keep pace with increasing demand and, thereby, contribute to the core discussion among agricultural economists on food production and its economic and environmental impacts.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T18:58:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 8 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Este estudo tem por objetivo a estimação de equações de importação brasileira para bens de consumo duráveis, bens intermediários e bens de capital no período entre os anos 1988 a 2008. Além de realizar revisão sobre as teorias do comércio internacional, destacando os argumentos favoráveis ao livre comércio e abordando a nova teoria do comércio internacional, analisam-se a evolução das importações brasileiras com ênfase ao processo de abertura comercial. A abertura comercial brasileira possibilitou um aumento do quantum importado beneficiando o setor produtivo, pois a participação no ano de 2008 dos bens de capital e bens intermediários nas importações foi 58% e 14%, respectivamente. Estimam-se funções de longo prazo, com os ajustes de curto prazo estimados pelo Mecanismo de Correção de Erros (MCE). Os vetores de co-integração são estimados através de procedimentos de Johansen. As importações das três categorias de uso nos modelos de longo prazo revelaram-se altamente dependentes das oscilações da renda brasil / This study aims to estimate equations for Brazilian imports of durable consumer goods, intermediate goods and capital goods in the period from 1988 to 2008. In addition to reviewing the theories of international trade, highlighting the arguments in favor of free trade and addressing the new international trade theory, analyzes the evolution of Brazilian imports with emphasis on trade liberalization. The Brazilian trade openness has enabled an increase in the volume of imports benefiting most the productive sector, for participation in 2008 of capital goods and intermediate goods in imports was 58% and 14% respectively. Estimated functions of long-term with short-term adjustments estimated by Errors of Correction Mechanism (ECM). The vector co-integration is estimated by procedure of Johansen. Imports of the three categories of use in models of long-term proved to be highly dependent on fluctuations in income in Brazil. For the income coefficient 5.17 was obtained in capital goods, intermediate goods at 4.63 a

The neo-liberal policies of liberalization and deregulation, as utilized by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its dealings with countries of the developing world, tend to facilitate the conditions for financial crisis. This can be traced by examining the economic crises of Mexico in 1982 and 1994/95, Asia in 1997 and Russia in 1998 and looking at the main causes and triggers of these crises. It is evident that the financial vulnerability that these countries suffered from existed due to, and not in spite of, these policy prescriptions. The IMF continues to present these policies as proven successes - a view that this dissertation contests. Further to this, the policies that the Fund uses are formulated for use in semi-peripheral economies and have little relationship to the actual economic environments of peripheral countries such as those of sub-Saharan Africa or Papua New Guinea. The ideology of free-markets and globalization is seen as unassailable by the IMF. By encouraging countries to remain part of the global financial system through debt rescheduling and open-markets policies, the IMF holds an increasingly fragile economic environment together. This dissertation formulates and tests four hypotheses in relation to Mexico, Asia, Russia and Papua New Guinea and the periphery. These are - (1) If there are periods of 'irrational exuberance' among investors in Third World debt, these are likely to contribute to debt crises. (2) If IMF policies are implemented in the Third World as dictated, then their primary benefits will accrue to the elites in those countries and in the developed world. (3) If Third World countries open their economies to foreign capital, then they are more likely to experience debt crises. (4) If IMF policies are implemented in peripheral countries, then they are even less likely to be successful than in semi-peripheral countries.

In their pursuit of profits, adventure and new markets, humans have traded since prehistoric times. The relations between trade, profits and technological change, how- ever, were not the main concern of early economists ranging from Aristotle to the mercantilists. Presumably because in their world, the rate of technological change was decidedly low, and the basket and quality of goods available through production and trade did not change much over decades, or even centuries! In addition, it was not the technological change that brought markets closer, but “the ferocity of nomadic horsemen or the edge of a scimitar”, while “violently imposed monopolies and plunder”. (Findlay and O’Rourke, 2003) made trade more profitable. It was not until the industrial revolution that growth rates began to rise to high levels. Now that human inventions and discoveries came faster and cheaper than ever, trade liberalization was not only the way to gain access to new markets; trade liberalization had also a role in promoting growth. Trade liberalization in the form of lower trade costs, increases profits from exporting, and consequently, overall profits. That increases the incentives to innovate, produce something new and export it. Trade liberalization thus promotes technological change by increasing the incentives firms have to conduct R&D, implement the innovation or improvement and make larger profits. The field of economics that studies economic growth as the result of decisions made by profit-maximizing firms is called endogenous growth theory. There have been a number of theoretical advances in endogenous growth theory over the last 20 years, but there is no consensus on whether trade liberalization promotes growth or not. Some models predict that trade liberalization has a positive effect on growth. Other models predict no effect at all. In addition, not all countries have benefited equally from globalization. In this dissertation, I study the linkages between trade liberalization and economic growth (papers one and two). In papers two and three, I also explore the relationships between globalization, growth and the demand for labor. There is well documented evidence from a number of countries, that the demand for less-skilled labor has decreased in recent decades, and this decrease has resulted in a higher skilled-wage premium, that is, the degree in which the wages of skilled workers exceed less-skilled worker wages. This phenomenon has occurred in several countries, including the U.S. The skilled- wage premium has also increased in Europe, although less dramatically. In paper two, the relationships between trade liberalization, growth and wage inequality are analyzed using an endogenous growth model. The third and final paper is an empirical study on the relationships between the demand for labor and offshoring. More specifically, I examine what happens to the demand for different types of labor (not only skilled and unskilled labor) in the Swedish plants of Swedish multinational enterprises, when these multinationals expand abroad. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2011

La scelta del modeller riguardo alla chiusura del modello CGE influenza i suoi risultati finali e le sue prescrizioni di policy. In questa tesi, lo scopo è l’analisi e l’identificazione del problema, sia attraverso una discussione teorica che un’ applicazione pratica. Dall’articolo del 1963 di Amartya Sen in poi, la letteratura ha presentato vari articoli sull’argomento. Attualmente, il problema delle chiusure del modello non appare più centrale nel dibattito. Dopo una breve introduzione su cosa siano i CGE, il loro sviluppo e la loro struttura, è presentata una serie di esemplificative maquette con lo scopo di introdurre al concetto di chiusura, come essa influenzi i risultati e come questa scelta del modeller sia intimamente connessa ai fondamenti macroeconomici del sistema. Dopo la teoria, ci si sposta nel mondo reale analizzando con differenti modelli (Neoclassico, “Bastardo Keynesiano”, Strutturalista/Post- Keynesiano) e diverse chiusure per gli aggregati macroeconomici (risparmi privati, pubblici, e stranieri) l’impatto dell’accordo regionale SADC sull’economia mozambicana. I modelli CGE per il Mozambico sono calibrati su una SAM del 2003 e sono svolti con l’ausilio di GAMS/MPSGE. I risultati dimostrano che la chiusura influenza i risultati stessi del modello per cui ognuno presenta una serie di raccomandazioni politiche per l’applicazione dell’accordo SADC. / Modellers’ choice on closure rules affects a CGE model results and consequently its policy prescriptions. In this thesis, the aim is to detect and assess this issue, both through a theoretical discussion and an empirical application. Starting from Amartya Sen’s 1963 paper, literature presents many contributions on this topic. Currently, the closure rule problem is not central in the CGE debate. After a brief introduction on CGEs, their development and their structure, a series of simple maquette is presented. They have the exemplary role of introducing the concept of closures, explain how they affect final outcomes and how this modeller’s choice is strictly connected to the macroeconomic foundation of the economic system. After theory, we move into the real World analyzing through different models (Neoclassical, “Bastard Keynesian”, and Structuralist/ Post- Keynesian), and through different closure rules for macro- aggregates (private, public and foreign savings) the impact of the Regional Trade Agreement of SADC with respect to the Mozambican economy. The Mozambican CGE models are calibrated on a 2003 Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) and they are performed using GAMS/ MPSGE. Outcomes show that closure rules affect them and each model presents a set of policy prescription to implement the SADC agreement.

O objetivo do estudo foi analisar a interação entre o dinamismo econômico e a qualidade do emprego, observando esse fenômeno a partir do caso do setor de telecomunicações, no Brasil. O estudo propõe uma reflexão sobre a qualidade do emprego nas atividades de telecomunicações, que, no Brasil, passaram por recente processo de privatização, caracterizando um novo cenário empresarial, marcado por inovações tecnológicas, expansão comercial e competição de mercado. Foi elaborado um modelo de análise para avaliar a qualidade do emprego com base na estrutura ocupacional do mercado de trabalho, diferente de outros modelos concorrentes, que se debruçam sobre categorias como “emprego típico” e “trabalho decente”. O setor de telecomunicações inclui tanto atividades econômicas amplamente voltadas para estratégias de inovação e formação de vantagens competitivas como atividades de suporte, mais restritas à operação, implantação e manutenção do mercado, fato que se desdobra na composição dos respectivos mercados de trabalho. Constatou-se que o desempenho da qualidade do emprego é função da estruturação setorial. A melhora no nível de qualidade do emprego está bastante vinculada à natureza, à experiência tecnológica e ao ambiente econômico de cada ramo produtivo. Foi observado que a qualidade do emprego melhora na medida em que as atividades econômicas se encontram mais próximas aos processos de inovação, competição de mercado e liberalização comercial, mesmo que as mesmas componham um único setor. Confirmou-se a suspeita de que nas atividades econômicas constituídas por empresas que não inovam internamente ou inovam pouco e que não competem diretamente no mercado das telecomunicações (implantação, comércio e teleatendimento), o trabalho caracteriza-se por ser padronizado, promovendo atividades laborais empobrecidas, apresentando situação menos vantajosa de qualidade do emprego. Nas atividades com maior capacidade de inovação e que competem diretamente no mercado de telecomunicações (telefonia fixa e telefonia móvel em um primeiro nível, e em um segundo plano serviços de rede, televisão por cabo e fabricação), o trabalho caracteriza-se por ser menos estruturado, promovendo maior recorrência de atividades laborais enriquecidas, maior remuneração e escolarização dos empregados e apresentando, portanto, situação melhor de qualidade do emprego. A análise da situação do emprego na atividade de telecomunicações baseia-se nos dados disponíveis na Relação Anual de Informações Sociais (RAIS) do Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego do Brasil (MTE). / The aim of this study was to analyze the interaction between economic dynamism and quality of employment based on the case of telecommunications industry in Brazil. This study proposes a reflection about the quality of employment in the activities of telecommunications that recently underwent a privatization process in Brazil, characterizing a new business scenery, marked by technological innovations, commercial expansion and market competition. We created an analysis model to evaluate the quality of employment which is based on the occupational structure of the labor market, unlike other competing models that focus on categories such as, “typical job” and “decent work”. The telecommunications industry comprises not only economic activities largely turned to innovation strategies and the shaping of competitive advantages but also support activities restricted to market operation, deployment and maintenance. These aspects affect the composition of labor markets. We found that the quality of employment results from the industry framework. Improvements in the quality of employment are strongly related to the nature of each production field, its technological experience and economic environment. We saw that the quality of employment improves as economic activities get closer to innovation processes, market competition, and trade liberalization, even if they are all part of the same industry. Suspicions were confirmed that in those economic activities consisting of companies that neither innovate or hardly innovate nor compete directly in the telecommunications market (deployment, trade, and telemarketing), work is standardized, and labor activities are of a poor nature, which then results in lower quality of employment. In activities with greater ability to innovate and that compete directly in the telecommunications market (wireline and wireless on a first level and, on a second level, network service, cable television, and manufacturing), work is less structured, thus promoting enriched labor activities, hight remuneration and employees‟ education, and resulting in higher quality of employment. The analysis of the situation of employment in the activity of telecommunications is based on the data available in the Annual Report of Social Information (in portuguese, RAIS) of Ministry of Labor and Employment of Brazil (in portuguese, MTE).

Submitted by Renan Gomes De Pieri (renanpieri@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-01-04T18:59:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 tese Renan Pieri (final).pdf: 1613774 bytes, checksum: add528ec929ae2d5c1a012e6f1ba3823 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Letícia Monteiro de Souza (leticia.dsouza@fgv.br) on 2016-01-05T11:09:23Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 tese Renan Pieri (final).pdf: 1613774 bytes, checksum: add528ec929ae2d5c1a012e6f1ba3823 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-05T12:31:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese Renan Pieri (final).pdf: 1613774 bytes, checksum: add528ec929ae2d5c1a012e6f1ba3823 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-03 / Esta tese é constituída por três capítulos que se enquadram na área de Microeconomia Aplicada, sendo dois deles de Economia Política Aplicada e o outro de Economia da Educação. O primeiro capítulo investiga se a eleição de mulheres para a prefeitura impacta a inserção de outras mulheres no mercado político, reduzindo-se assim uma preferência pré-estabelecida pelos eleitores de não votar em mulheres. Para realizar o exercício, utiliza-se um experimento de Regressão em Descontinuidade onde explora-se eleições em que uma mulher perdeu ou ganhou por uma margem pequena de votos para um candidato homem, a ponto do gênero eleito ser aleatório. Os resultados mostram que a eleição de uma mulher tem impacto apenas em ambientes mais propícios a eleger mulheres (o que foi mensurado aqui pelo percentual de vereadoras eleitas) ou em locais onde os candidatos tinham maior qualidade (medido pela escolaridade). O segundo artigo estima o impacto da divulgação da qualidade escolar sobre a migração dos alunos entre escolas. A ideia é que ao tornar-se público o sinal de qualidade, escolas e alunos têm incentivos para se adaptarem conforme sua demanda por qualidade. Para isso, explora-se um desenho de Regressão em Descontinuidade Fuzzy devido a um dos critérios de divulgação do IDEB ser a escola ter no mínimo 20 alunos matriculados na série avaliada. Os resultados mostram que as escolas que tiveram IDEB divulgado tiveram maior migração de alunos e, em especial, de alunos em condições de vulnerabilidade. O terceiro artigo avalia a hipótese de exogeneidade da abertura comercial brasileira, promovida no final da década de 1980 e início da de 1990. Há uma vasta literatura que explora os efeitos da abertura comercial sobre o mercado de trabalho, desigualdade de renda, pobreza e crescimento econômico. Tais trabalhos consideram o processo de liberalização brasileiro como não correlacionado com as demandas de nenhum setor de atividade econômica específico, o que justificaria utilizar o período de abertura como um instrumento para lidar com endogeneidade nas estimações. Nós apresentamos evidência de que, embora não correlacionado com nenhum setor em especial, a abertura estava correlacionada com a distribuição de capital político dos governos nesse período, e pode ter funcionado como uma estratégica clara de fortalecimento político ou, pelo menos, teve o contexto político como um facilitador do processo. / This thesis includes three papers that fall in the Applied Microeconomics subject, two of them of Applied Political Economics and the other of Economics of Education. The first chapter investigates whether the election of women to the municipal government affects the political market to other women, reducing up a predetermined voters' preference of not to vote for women. To perform the exercise, I use a Regression Discontinuity experiment, which explores elections in which a woman barely lost or won by a small margin of votes, being the winner gender a random variable. Results show that the election of a woman has impact only in more favorable environments to elect female politicians (we used the percentage of elected female councilors as measure) or where there are better candidates (measured by schooling years). The second chapter estimates the impact of school quality disclosure on the migration of students between schools. The idea is that to become public the quality signal, schools and students have incentives to adapt themselves conforming their demand for quality. For this, I explore a Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design for one of the IDEB's disclosure criteria be the school have at least 20 students enrolled in the evaluated series. The results show that schools that had released IDEB experienced more migration of students. This is true, in special, for students in situation of vulnerability. The second chapter analyses the exogeneity hypothesis of Brazilian trade liberalization, promoted in the late 80's and early 90's. There is a vast literature that explores the effects of trade liberalization on labor market, income inequality, poverty and economic growth. These works consider the Brazilian process of liberalization as uncorrelated with the demands of any particular economic activity sector, which would justify using the opening period as an instrument to deal with endogeneity in the estimation. We present evidence that, while not correlated with any sector, the opening was correlated with the distribution of political capital of the central government during this period, and may have acted as a clear strategic political empowerment.