[pt] Frequent flyer programs (FFPs) - programas de viajantes freqüentes, mais conhecidos como programas de milhagem - é um indutor de lealdade do consumidor. Ao premiar o cliente por acumular compras na companhia de forma não-linear, estes podem alterar a intensidade da competição no mercado. Estudos empíricos passados já tentaram estimar os efeitos dos FFPs nos preços. Entretando, a maioria focou em fazê-lo via dominância do aeroporto, aliança e outros. O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar o impacto da fatia de consumidores capturados nos preços correntes, causados pela introdução de custos artificiais de troca no mercado. A forma reduzida estimada sugere uma correlação de aproximadamente 13% entre preços correntes e a variável construída que representa um índice de fidelidade passado. O resultado é robusto a estimativas adicionais. / [en] Frequent flyer program is a type of consumer loyalty program. By rewarding consumer in a non-linear way for accumulating purchases, it may alter the intensity of price competition. Empirical studies have measured the impact off FFP in prices. However, they focus on its impact through airport dominance, alliances and other features. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of the share of locked in consumers on prices, caused by the introduction of artificial switching costs in the market. The reduced form estimates suggests a correlation of approximately 13% between current prices and the constructed variable fidelization index. The result is robust to additional estimates.

Esta dissertação ilustra como o regime fordista de acumulação brasileiro foi induzido à sua crise na década de oitenta, pelas políticas de ajuste econômico patrocinadas pelo FMI, e como na década seguinte a política de liberalização da economia terminou por reformatá-lo. Destacam-se as alterações estruturais na economia neste novo ambiente pós-fordista, e evidencia-se como este novo regime de acumulação não permitiu uma ampliação do produto e renda / This master dissertation elucidates how the Brazilian accumulation of fordist type was driven into its crisis in the eighties, by the adjustment policies of International Monetary Fund and how, during the nineties, the liberalization of economy put another one in curse, the so called post-fordist regime. The work approaches the structural changes of the Brazilian economy under this new post-fordist regime, and attempts to show how it was not able foster new economic growth, as expected

O presente trabalho busca avaliar os efeitos da liberalização financeira externa da economia brasileira sobre variáveis macroeconômicas como oferta de crédito ao setor privado, produto nominal, reservas internacionais, risco-país, taxa de juros e volatilidade cambial, no decorrer do período que vai de 1995 a 2014, por meio da estimação de dois modelos econométricos assentados em Vetores Autorregressivos: o primeiro com Mudanças Markovianas de Regime (MS-VAR), e o segundo com correção de erros vetorial (VEC). Além disso, realiza revisão da literatura teórica e empírica acerca da liberalização financeira externa e seus desdobramentos; apresenta os indicadores de abertura (ICC) - presente nos trabalhos de Cardoso e Goldfajn (1998), Soihet (2002), Laan (2007) e Cunha e Laan (2013), dentre outros - e de integração financeira (IIF); e expõe a história do processo brasileiro de liberalização financeira. No que tange aos resultados, ambas as metodologias econométricas apontam que: uma reversão do ciclo financeiro global impacta negativamente as duas dimensões da liberalização financeira externa da economia brasileira; um avanço da desregulamentação não gera efeitos significativos, o que contrasta com a posição favorável à plena conversibilidade da conta capital e financeira, defendida por Arida (2003a, 2003b, 2004); um aumento no grau de integração financeira engendra desdobramentos macroeconômicos problemáticos. No que tange ao modelo MS-VAR, sublinha-se que as consequências de um choque liberalizante são mais profundas em momentos de reversão do ciclo financeiro global, bem como que a endogeneidade dos controles, nos termos de Cardoso e Goldfajn (1998), é contingente à fase vigente do ciclo financeiro global. Quanto ao modelo VEC, destaca-se a precedência, no sentido de Granger, da variação da volatilidade financeira internacional frente à variação grau de integração financeira da economia brasileira, e deste frente à variação do risco-país. Conclui que, se não é possível descartar os benefícios da abertura financeira, há que se redobrar a atenção frente a seus riscos, considerando também as consequências negativas em termos de grau de integração financeira e a influência do ciclo financeiro global. / This study aims to evaluate the external financial liberalization of the Brazilian economy on macroeconomic variables such as country risk, credit supply to the private sector, exchange rate volatility, interest rate, international reserves and nominal product, during the period from 1995 to 2014, by estimating two Vectors Autoregressive econometric models: the first with Markov-Switching (MS-VAR), and the second with Vector Error-Correction (VEC). In addition, this study aimed to: conduct a review of theoretical and empirical literature about external financial liberalization and its consequences; present financial opening index (ICC) - present in the work of Cardoso and Goldfajn (1998), Soihet (2002), Laan (2007) and Cunha and Laan (2013), among others - and financial integration index (IIF); and exposing the history of Brazilian process of financial liberalization. With respect to the results, both econometric methodologies show that: a reversal of the global financial cycle adversely impacts the two dimensions of external financial liberalization of the Brazilian economy; an advance of deregulation does not generate significant effects, in contrast to the position in favor of capital account full convertibility, advocated by Arida (2003a, 2003b, 2004); an increase in financial integration creates problematic macroeconomic developments. Regarding the MS-VAR model, it points out that the consequences of a liberalizing shock are deeper in times of reversal of global financial cycle and that the endogeneity of capital controls, from Cardoso and Goldfajn (1998), is contingent on current phase of the global financial cycle. Regarding the VEC model, there is precedence, in Granger terms, of the international financial volatility variation over the Brazilian economy financial degree variation, and from it to country risk variation. It is concluded that if it cannot be dismissed the benefits of financial openness, we must exercise caution against its risks, also considering the negative consequences in terms of financial integration degree and the influence of global financial cycle.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Economics) / The main objective of this thesis was to closely examine several nancial and economic aspects of the stock markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, the objectives of this thesis were to explore the interdependence, the time-varying conditional correlation and the volatility linkages among Sub-Saharan African and developed stock markets; to investigate the relationship between - nancial liberalization and the development of stock markets; and to examine the patterns of the aggregate market liquidity and the relevance of the mainstream determinants of market liquidity in the chosen Sub-Saharan African stock markets. The study was composed of three standalone essays. The rst essay, which investigated stock price co-movements and the volatility linkages between selected Sub-Saharan African markets and the key developed markets, used the Johansen cointegration test, the VECM and the GARCH models for the sample period 2 January 2009 { 31 December 2016. The second essay, examining the e ect of nancial liberalization on the development of stock markets in Sub-Saharan Africa, employed the Bayesian VAR for the sample period 1975Q1 { 2014Q4. Lastly, the third essay, which investigated the determinants of liquidity levels in Sub-Saharan African stock markets employed the Markov Switching Vector Autoregressive model for the sample period 2 January 2009 { 31 December 2016.This study aimed at contributing to the already existing literature by focusing on analysing four key stock markets in the region, namely the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the Kenyan Securities Exchange.

The thesis deals with the process of creating the internal electricity market in the European Union. The first part focuses on the development of EU energy policy and on the influence of legislative and institutional framework on the creation of the internal electricity market. The second part describes the specifics of electricity and the process of liberalization. It also deals with the interconnection of energy networks. The third part of the thesis is devoted to electricity markets and their regulation. The fourth section examines the development of electricity prices in European countries. Analysis of price convergence shows the current state of creating the single internal market in electricity.

This diploma thesis is concerned with developing countries in the multilateral trading system. Its goal is to analyze how the position of this group of countries changed from the moment GATT was signed up to the present and what their role and importance were in the forming of this system. The thesis also uncovers major sticking points in the current round of negotiations along with demands of developing countries and therefore analyses why no consensus has been reached yet.

This Master Thesis conducts a survey of the process of the liberalization of the electricity market, exclusively in the context of the European Union. The method of the review of the contemporary literatury is used to analyze reforms in the electricity supply industry. The thesis provides readers with the basic characteristics of the liberalization of this strategic net industry. The main focus is on one particular reform-unbundling- as it influences all principles of the eletricity energy markets. Scholars argue there are direct advantages and at the same time direct disadvanatges resulting from these reforms and it is almost impossible to find a clear agreement on if positive or negative effects prevails. In the thesis there is an attempt to evaluate whether contemporary research literature is able to decide if the liberalization reforms will bring about pure benefits for participants of the electricity markets.

Esta tese consiste de uma introdução geral e três ensaios independentes, mas inter-relacionados. O capítulo 2 aborda o tema da liberalização financeira no âmbito das economias emergentes, enfocando sua ligação com o crescimento econômico no Brasil. Com base em um modelo de vetores auto-regressivos (VAR), argumenta-se que as conexões entre liberalização financeira e crescimento econômico devem ser não tão fortes quanto o suposto em teoria, mesmo no curto prazo. Mostra-se que a experiência brasileira de liberalização financeira, medida através de dois índices independentes, não imprimiu um viés de redução sobre a taxa de juros, enquanto também não impôs um efeito altista sobre a taxa de crescimento do PIB. Nesse caso, liberalização financeira não parece ser um substituto para políticas estratégicas mais voltadas a induzir o desenvolvimento econômico, dado que proporciona apenas pequenos ganhos que tendem, todavia, a ser acompanhados por efeitos colaterais indesejados – o resultado líquido acaba não sendo relevante no sistema. O capítulo conclui que liberalização financeira deve ser interpretada de acordo com a visão demand-following, a qual sugere que a direção causal fundamental parte do nível de atividade econômica à liberalização financeira. Segue que tentativas de estabilizar as finanças de uma economia podem se dar através da imposição de certos limites aos movimentos desregulados de capitais como précondição para o apropriado desenvolvimento em economias emergentes. Por sua vez, o capítulo 3 explora a questão da racionalidade subjacente à acumulação de reservas no Brasil, uma tendência recente identificada entre importantes economias emergentes. Esse ponto é imediatamente relevante à discussão oferecida no capítulo anterior, dado que países emergentes parecem conduzir políticas macroeconômicas distintas e responder diferentemente aos desafios da globalização financeira, vis-à-vis o cenário de fluxos de capitais desregulados ao redor do mundo. A investigação sugere que a política de reservas internacionais no Brasil não mudou com a introdução de regime cambial flutuante de facto em 1999, ao contrário do esperado em teoria. Ao mesmo tempo, a política de governo relacionada à taxa cambial e acumulação de reservas no Brasil não pode ser relacionada a uma ativa política export-led growth conduzida pela autoridade monetária. Da mesma maneira, a competitividade internacional do País não parece estar sendo particularmente significativa para explicar a racionalidade da política externa brasileira. Além disso, o processo de integração financeira do Brasil com o exterior parece não ter exigido níveis mais altos de reservas, enquanto a desregulação financeira não consegue explicar a estocagem de reservas soberanas. A evolução da política de reservas deve, entretanto, ser avaliada considerando o processo de amplificação generalizada das operações externas registradas no balanço de pagamentos. Estas proporcionaram o excesso de liquidez no período sob revisão, em especial após 2003, principalmente relacionado ao exógeno (e inerentemente instável) dinamismo dos fluxos de capitais. O capítulo 4 lida com uma importante questão do gerenciamento externo de uma economia emergente, qual seja, o custo fiscal associado aos instrumentos adotados pela autoridade monetária. Ainda que uma política de acumulação de reservas possa ser benéfica, como forma de reduzir os efeitos de uma crise externa que poderia afetar uma economia, é necessário identificar os parâmetros e limites prudenciais da política de reservas. Para tanto, esse ensaio tenta identificar o nível ótimo de reservas precaucionais, no sentido de maximização dos gastos fiscais no Brasil. Como subsídio, os determinantes-chave das reservas brasileiras, identificados no capítulo anterior, permitem uma reflexão mais robusta sobre custos e benefícios de tal instrumento da política de gerenciamento externo de economias emergentes na era pós-Bretton Woods. Essencialmente, as diferentes medidas e simulações desenvolvidas oferecem a mesma inferência sobre a inadequação dos estoques de moeda conversível do Brasil, mantidos em excesso a partir do primeiro semestre de 2008. Adicionalmente, o exercício econométrico não suporta a assertiva de que a acumulação de níveis altos de reservas seja fortemente significativa na determinação do risco-soberano e dos custos de captação externa no País. Além disso, grandes montantes de reservas parecem estar relacionados a um elevado custo fiscal derivado da política de esterilização associada. Conclui-se pela necessidade de se adaptar o gerenciamento externo do Brasil a suas instituições. / This thesis consists of a general introduction and three independent but interrelated papers. Chapter 2 addresses the issue of financial liberalization amongst the emerging countries, concerned with its linkage to economic growth in Brazil. Based on a vector autoregressive (VAR) method, it argues that the linkages between financial liberalization and economic growth might be not as strong as supposed in theory, even over the short run. In fact, the Brazilian process of financial liberalization, measured by two independent indexes, has not imposed a downward bias on interest rates, while also has not implemented an upward effect on the GDP growth rate. It follows that financial liberalization is not a substitute for strategic policies designed to boost economic development, since it can offer only small gains but which tend to come accompanied with undesired side effects – net effect may be not as relevant as supposed initially in the economic system. From a core perspective, we conclude that financial liberalization must be interpreted according to a ‘demand-following’ view, which suggests the causal direction goes from economic development to financial liberalization. It follows that attempts to stabilize one economies’ finance could come by imposing certain limits on the free movement of capital as a precondition for the proper development of emerging nations. Chapter 3 explores the rationale behind reserves accumulation in Brazil, a recent trend identified among important emerging countries. This is immediately relevant to the discussion offered in chapter 1, as emerging countries seem to run distinct macroeconomic policies and respond differently to the challenges of the financial globalization, vis-à-vis the scenario of unregulated capital flows worldwide. The investigation suggests that reserves policy in Brazil has not changed with the introduction of a de facto free floating exchange regime in 1999, as theoretically expected. In this context, the government policy regarding the exchange rate and the reserve holdings in Brazil cannot be linked to an active export-led growth policy run by the monetary authority. Likewise, financial integration does not seem to have required higher levels of reserves, while financial deregulation does not explain the building of reserves in Brazil. Furthermore, international competitiveness does not seem to have been particularly significant to explain the rationale of the Brazilian external policy. Developments in the reserves policy,, though, should be seen against the background of a general widening of the balance of payments providing an excess of liquidity in the period under review, especially after 2003, mainly related to the exogenous (and inherently unstable) dynamism of capital flows. Finally, chapter 4 deals with the huge problem of external management of an emerging economy, namely the fiscal cost associated with the instruments adopted by the monetary authority. Even though a policy on accumulation of reserves may be positive, in order to reduce the effects of an external crisis that would affect the country, it is necessary to identify the parameters and prudential limits of the reserve policy. For such, it addresses the subject of precautionary reserve holdings, in an attempt to identify optimal levels and maximized fiscal expenditures to Brazil. The key relevant factors determining the Brazilian reserves identified in the second essay, will also allow for a more robust reflection about costs and benefits of such an instrument of external policy management in the post-Bretton Woods era. Essentially, the different adequacy measures and the model-based simulations offer the same inference about the inadequacy of the Brazilian reserve holdings, kept in excessive levels by 2008. Furthermore, as the econometric exercise does not provide much support for the claim that accumulating high levels of reserves is strongly significant to determine the sovereign risk and the costs of external funding for the country; and further, it seems to be related to a huge fiscal cost associated to the sterilization policy, the main conclusion points to the need to adapt the precautionary external management of Brazil to its own institutions, as it seems to run an external policy beyond its conditions.

Cette thèse se focalise sur quatre aspects de la dynamique des réformes financières, qu'elle catégorise en deux parties. La première partie analyse d'une part, l'effet de la cohérence financière sur l'afflux de capitaux étrangers et d'autre part, la relation entre le sentier de croissance et la trajectoire de réformes financières adoptée par les pays. La seconde partie utilise un cadre coût-bénéfice pour évaluer si le comportement des décideurs politiques en matière de réformes est inspirée de la dynamique d'une frontière spécifique de libéralisation; elle analyse aussi dans quelle mesure les phénomènes d'apprentissage ainsi que l'évolution des croyances des décideurs politiques à propos de l'effet de la libéralisation après l'effondrement du système de Bretton Woods contribuent à l'explication de la dynamique des réformes financières dans les pays. Le premier chapitre évalue l'analyse de la complémentarité des réformes financières sur l'afflux de capitaux étrangers. Dans ce chapitre, nous analysons la relation entre la cohérence du système de réformes financières et l'afflux de capitaux étrangers (investissements directs étrangers et investissements portefeuille). Nos résultats suggèrent que la manière dont les réformes financières ont été mises en oeuvre affecte significativement les afflux de capitaux étrangers. Le chapitre 2 de cette thèse analyse comment le sentier ou la trajectoire complète de réformes financières poursuivies par les pays pourrait influencer leur sentier de croissance. Il est basé sur l'idée pertinente de séquençage des réformes avancé par Dewatripont et Roland (1994). Le troisième chapitre de cette partie examine si les pays apprennent à partir d'une norme spécifique de la libéralisation financière et évalue comment le gain de croissance de la libéralisation est affectée dans ce contexte. Les principaux résultats sont que lorsque les pays atteignent la frontière (mondiale ou régionale) de libéralisation, ils obtiennent de meilleurs résultats en terme de croissance du PIB ainsi que la stabilité financière. Le quatrième chapitre explore comment la dynamique des politiques à l'égard des marchés financiers est expliquée par l'apprentissage et par l'évolution des croyances des décideurs à propos des effets de la libéralisation du compte de capital. Nous trouvons que les croyances des décideurs quant aux effets sur la croissance des politiques à l'égard des marchés financiers ont évolué de façon non linéaire. / This thesis focuses on four aspects of financial reforms dynamics which could be categorized into two parts. The first part analyzes the effect of the coherence of financial reforms of international capital inflows and the relation between the path of economic growth and the trajectory of financial reforms followed by countries. The second part uses a cost-benefit framework to analyze whether countries learn from a normative financial liberalization frontier; and shows how learning and the evolution of beliefs have contributed to explained financial markets'policy choices after the collapse of Bretton Woods' system. The first chapter evaluates how financial reforms' complementarity affects international capital inflows. The empirical results suggest that the manner in which financial reforms are implemented matters. Particularly, complementarity increases FDI inflows by 0.10 %. The second chapter analyzes how the full trajectory or sequence of financial reforms followed by countries affects their growth path. It is based on a very relevant argument for sequencing reforms puts--forward by Dewatripont and Roland (1994). We find that the trajectory of financial reforms followed by countries affects the level of GDP per capita growth. The third chapter of this part investigates whether countries learn from a specific norm. The main results are that when countries reach the time specific world (or regional) frontier of liberalization, they perform better in terms of GDP per capita growth as well as financial stability •of financial liberalization and evaluates how the growth payoff of liberalization is affected. The fourth chapter explores how the dynamics of policies towards capital (financial) markets are explained by learning and by the evolution of policymakers beliefs about the effects of capital control or capital account liberalization strategies. We find that policymakers' beliefs about the growth effects of policies towards financial markets evolve non-linearly and that radical changes policymakers' beliefs about the superiority of capital account liberalization policies take time.

<p>This research shows the relationship between trade liberalization and food security for the Bolivian case. As a result of the severe economic crisis of the early-1980s, Bolivia adopted a series of market-oriented reforms in 1985. The reforms included the liberalization of the trade regime and the promotion of non-traditional exports. The trade liberalization had an important effect on the performance of cash crops, especially in the development of the soybeans industry. However, foodcrops did not have such a great dynamics. Vegetables and starchy roots declined in per capita terms and the increase in imports were not enough to compensate the decline. Trade reforms mostly favor a small group of large-scale farmers in the lowlands, who had historically been granted land in the region. In this sense, Bolivia’s involvement in a trade liberalization process was not reflected in an overall improvement of the country’s food security.</p>