No Brasil, o ponto de vista de que a competição tributária (sempre retratada como "guerra fiscal") é algo conflituoso faz com que seja difundida uma visão negativa sobre um fenômeno que nem sempre é visto como tal na literatura econômica internacional. Muitos economistas veem essa competição como algo que, sendo capaz de coibir o comportamento rent-seeking por parte dos governantes, seria benéfico para a sociedade. Com base nessa ideia, usando o modelo de Eggert e Sorensen (2008), foi testado se variáveis proxy relativas à intensidade da competição tributária e ao comportamento rent-seeking de políticos no poder eram correlacionadas. Usou-se dados dos 26 estados brasileiros e do Distrito Federal para os anos de 2001 a 2009. Os resultados mostraram que, embora essas variáveis proxy não fossem correlacionadas para os níveis de escolaridade mais baixos, no nível mais alto, havia correlação entre essas duas variáveis, embora ela fosse positiva, o que rejeitava a hipótese de que uma maior competição tributária seria capaz de diminuir o comportamento rent-seeking dos políticos. / In Brazil, the point of view that tax competition (commonly referred to as a “fiscal war”) is something conflictive spreads a negative perspective on a phenomenon that is not always seen as such in the international economic literature. Many economists see this competition as something that, in being able to reduce rent-seeking behavior by politicians, would be beneficial to society. Stemming from this idea, and using the model from Eggert and Sorensen (2008), it was tested if proxy variables relating to the intensity of tax competition and to the rent-seeking behavior of politicians in office were correlated. Data from all the 26 Brazilian states and also Distrito Federal, from 2001 to 2009, were used. The results showed that, although the proxy variables were not correlated for the less skilled groups of workers considered, at the high skilled group, there was correlation between the two variables, but it was positive, which rejected the hypothesis that a more intense tax competition would be able to repress rent-seeking behavior by politicians.

No Brasil, o ponto de vista de que a competição tributária (sempre retratada como "guerra fiscal") é algo conflituoso faz com que seja difundida uma visão negativa sobre um fenômeno que nem sempre é visto como tal na literatura econômica internacional. Muitos economistas veem essa competição como algo que, sendo capaz de coibir o comportamento rent-seeking por parte dos governantes, seria benéfico para a sociedade. Com base nessa ideia, usando o modelo de Eggert e Sorensen (2008), foi testado se variáveis proxy relativas à intensidade da competição tributária e ao comportamento rent-seeking de políticos no poder eram correlacionadas. Usou-se dados dos 26 estados brasileiros e do Distrito Federal para os anos de 2001 a 2009. Os resultados mostraram que, embora essas variáveis proxy não fossem correlacionadas para os níveis de escolaridade mais baixos, no nível mais alto, havia correlação entre essas duas variáveis, embora ela fosse positiva, o que rejeitava a hipótese de que uma maior competição tributária seria capaz de diminuir o comportamento rent-seeking dos políticos. / In Brazil, the point of view that tax competition (commonly referred to as a “fiscal war”) is something conflictive spreads a negative perspective on a phenomenon that is not always seen as such in the international economic literature. Many economists see this competition as something that, in being able to reduce rent-seeking behavior by politicians, would be beneficial to society. Stemming from this idea, and using the model from Eggert and Sorensen (2008), it was tested if proxy variables relating to the intensity of tax competition and to the rent-seeking behavior of politicians in office were correlated. Data from all the 26 Brazilian states and also Distrito Federal, from 2001 to 2009, were used. The results showed that, although the proxy variables were not correlated for the less skilled groups of workers considered, at the high skilled group, there was correlation between the two variables, but it was positive, which rejected the hypothesis that a more intense tax competition would be able to repress rent-seeking behavior by politicians.

No Brasil, o ponto de vista de que a competição tributária (sempre retratada como "guerra fiscal") é algo conflituoso faz com que seja difundida uma visão negativa sobre um fenômeno que nem sempre é visto como tal na literatura econômica internacional. Muitos economistas veem essa competição como algo que, sendo capaz de coibir o comportamento rent-seeking por parte dos governantes, seria benéfico para a sociedade. Com base nessa ideia, usando o modelo de Eggert e Sorensen (2008), foi testado se variáveis proxy relativas à intensidade da competição tributária e ao comportamento rent-seeking de políticos no poder eram correlacionadas. Usou-se dados dos 26 estados brasileiros e do Distrito Federal para os anos de 2001 a 2009. Os resultados mostraram que, embora essas variáveis proxy não fossem correlacionadas para os níveis de escolaridade mais baixos, no nível mais alto, havia correlação entre essas duas variáveis, embora ela fosse positiva, o que rejeitava a hipótese de que uma maior competição tributária seria capaz de diminuir o comportamento rent-seeking dos políticos. / In Brazil, the point of view that tax competition (commonly referred to as a “fiscal war”) is something conflictive spreads a negative perspective on a phenomenon that is not always seen as such in the international economic literature. Many economists see this competition as something that, in being able to reduce rent-seeking behavior by politicians, would be beneficial to society. Stemming from this idea, and using the model from Eggert and Sorensen (2008), it was tested if proxy variables relating to the intensity of tax competition and to the rent-seeking behavior of politicians in office were correlated. Data from all the 26 Brazilian states and also Distrito Federal, from 2001 to 2009, were used. The results showed that, although the proxy variables were not correlated for the less skilled groups of workers considered, at the high skilled group, there was correlation between the two variables, but it was positive, which rejected the hypothesis that a more intense tax competition would be able to repress rent-seeking behavior by politicians.

abstract: This is a study of the plight of smallholder agriculture in Northwest Costa Rica. More specifically, this is the story of 689 rice farms, of an average size of 7.2 hectares and totaling just less than 5,300 hectares within the largest agricultural irrigation system in Central America. I was able to define the physical bounds of this study quite clearly, but one would be mistaken to think that this simplicity transfers to a search for rural development solutions in this case. Those solutions lie in the national and international politics that appear to have allowed a select few to pick winners and losers in Costa Rican agriculture in the face of global changes. In this research, I found that water scarcity among smallholder farms between 2006 and 2013 was the product of the adaptations of other, more powerful actors in 2002 to threats of Costa Rica's ratification of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. I demonstrate how the adaptations of these more powerful actors produced new risks for others, and how this ultimately prevented the rural development program from meeting its development goals. I reflect on my case study to draw conclusions about the different ways risks may emerge in rural development programs of this type. Then, I focus on the household level and show that determinants of successful adaptation to one type of global change risk may make farmers more vulnerable to other types, creating a "catch-22" among vulnerable farmers adapting to multiple global change risks. Finally, I define adaptation limits in smallholder rice farming in Northwest Costa Rica. I show that the abandonment of livelihood security and well-being, and of the unique "parcelaro" identities of rice farmers in this region define adaptation limits in this context. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Sustainability 2014

Depuis le début du 20e siècle, la consommation est devenue un appareil idéologique que les masses utilisent pour acquérir une auto-identité par la voie des sens symboliques des marchandises. Cette évolution de la consommation vers le consumérisme ne peut être expliquée de l’intérieur du consensus théorique de la Science sous influence du paradigme dominant. Toutefois, la transformation peut être comprise par la voie d’une critique immanente de la rationalité. La consommation peut être vue comme la nouvelle méthode de la socialisation que l’individu utilise afin de se lier à la communauté dans la mesure où il est dépourvu dans la modernité du lien direct avec ses semblables. Le consensus théorique de la partie idéologique de la Science montre cette nouvelle méthode comme moyen de pacification des conflits qui peuvent perturber l’unité sociale, alors qu’en réalité la consommation de masse est source de destruction et de contradiction. La thèse essaye de démontrer la contradiction de ce nouveau modèle de socialisation et de clarifier le véritable rôle de la consommation : assurer la passivité des masses en réponse aux conflits sociaux du début du 20e siècle. « La peur de la liberté » d’Erich Fromm est utilisé pour la base de la recherche et les idées de l’école de Francfort sont évoquées pour développer la méthode de recherche. / Since the beginning of the 20th century, the consumption has become an ideological apparatus which is used for acquiring a self-identity through the symbolic meanings of the products. This evolution of the consumption in the consumerism cannot be comprehended inside the theoretical consensus of Science which is under the influence of the dominating paradigm. However, the transformation can be understood through an immanent critique of the rationality. The consumption can be seen as the new method of socialization that the individual uses to link herself/himself to the community insofar as the individual lacks in the modernity the direct link with the others. The theoretical consensus of the ideological part of Science shows this new method as a way to pacify the individual conflicts which can disrupt the social unity, in reality the mass consumption is the source of destruction and contradiction. The thesis aims to point out that contradiction of the theory and to clarify the real role of the consumption: constitute the passiveness of the masses in response to the social conflicts of the beginning of 20th century. The book “Escape from Freedom” of Erich Fromm is used as the base of the research and the ideas of the Frankfurt School are evoked in order to develop the research method.

This thesis consists of four self-contained essays in economics. Their abstracts are presented below: Exit, Voice and Political Change: Evidence from Swedish Mass Migration to the United States. We study the political effects of mass emigration to the United States in the 19th century using data from Sweden. To instrument for total emigration over several decades, we exploit severe local frost shocks that sparked an initial wave of emigration, interacted with within-country travel costs. Our estimates show that emigration substantially increased the local demand for political change, as measured by labor movement membership, strike participation and voting. Emigration also led to de facto political change, increasing welfare expenditures as well as the likelihood of adopting more inclusive political institutions. Mass Migration, Cheap Labor, and Innovation. Migration is often depicted as a major problem for struggling developing countries, as they may lose valuable workers and human capital. Yet, its effects on sending regions are ambiguous and depend crucially on local market responses and migrant selection. This paper studies the effects of migration on technological innovation in sending communities during one of the largest migration episodes in human history: the Age of Mass Migration (1850-1913). Using novel historical data on Sweden, where about a quarter of its population migrated, we find that migration caused an increase in technological patents in sending municipalities. To establish causality, we use an instrumental variable design that exploits severe local growing season frost shocks together with within-country travel costs to reach an emigration port. Exploring possible mechanisms, we suggest that increased labor costs, due to low-skilled emigration, induced technological innovation.                                                    On the Right Track: Railroads, Mobility and Innovation During Two Centuries. We study the construction of the 19th-century Swedish railroad network and estimate its effects on innovation during two centuries. To address endogenous placement of the network, our analysis exploits the fact that the main trunk lines were built with the overarching aim to connect particular city centers, while at the same time considering construction costs. Estimates show that innovative activities increased substantially in areas traversed by the railroads. The number of active innovators increased and, moreover, they became more productive. Exploring potential mechanisms, we highlight the importance of knowledge diffusion across space by studying spatial patterns of collaboration between innovators. Our analysis shows that innovators residing in areas connected by the railroad start to collaborate more and over longer distances, especially with other innovators located along the railroad network. Finally, we show that the differences in innovative activities were intensified over the 20th century. Areas traversed by the historical railroads exhibit much higher rates of innovation in the present day.                           Homeownership, Housing Wealth and Socioeconomic Outcomes: Evidence from Sweden 1999-2007. This paper studies a government supported homeownership wave in Sweden, where tenants bought their apartments at prices below the market value in the ownership market. Using detailed administrative register data paired with a difference-in-differences strategy, it compares individuals subject to an ownership transfer to similar individuals who never got the opportunity to buy their homes. After establishing that the new homeowners instantly increased their net wealth, the effects of homeownership and housing wealth on a set of socioeconomic outcomes are measured over time. Although the lump-sum transfer is large, the average individual only modestly adjusts her behavior in terms of labor market participation and demographic decision-making. Studying differences across age, younger tenants increase childbearing and decrease labor income, although modestly. Individuals near their retirement age decrease their labor market participation.

This research is an empirical effort to uncover the causal effect of political attitudes on economic growth. The case of study is a sample of OECD countries. Using identification strategy borrowed from Cahuc (2010), the hypothesis of the effect of political attitudes on economic growth is tested in two cross-sectional and fixed effect regression analysis. The result of OLS regression in cross sectional analysis shows a positive significant correlation between inherited political attitudes and economic growth. This means that countries with more social tendencies towards Right (versus Left in political context) are associated with higher economic growth rates. The result of OLS regression in fixed-effect analysis does not show a significant correlation between political attitudes and growth. As a result of weak first-stage, the 2SLS regression cannot provide statistically acceptable conclusion about the causal effect in neither of cross-sectional and fixed-effect frameworks. Thus, the question of causal effect of political attitudes on growth remains open at the end. Moreover, a strong correlations between political attitudes of individuals and their characteristics like gender, age, income, religion and country is detected.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T17:55:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 16 / Nenhuma / A tese trata das questões enfrentadas pela Rede Globo na construção dos conteúdos de cidadania, como eles estão representados na programação da emissora. O foco da análise são os objetivos que a emissora quer alcançar, quando insere as temas sociais por meio de ações de marketing ou merchandising social, nos quais a temática dos direitos, dos deveres para com o próximo, com o meio ambiente, com a diversidade, com o respeito às diferenças e às individualidades, está presente. O tratamento dado a essas questões, por parte da mídia, é de ordem específica. A televisão, lócus escolhido para esta pesquisa, tem um lugar concreto, a programação, a qual expõe e dispõe não só sua concepção, mas também seu poder de imposição de uma dada ordem social e política e de certo tipo de ser e de agir. A televisão elabora, legitimiza e institui, por meio de tratamentos específicos ao campo das mídias e dos conteúdos de cada programa que vai ao ar, o modelo de sociedade e de homem que deseja construir ou impor. A pesquisa desenvo / The thesis addresses questions raised about the rights of citizens as represented in programming by the Rede Globo network. The analysis focuses on some of the objectives the network desires to achieve as it inserts certain social themes into its marketing and merchandising messages, such as legal rights, ecology, diversity, differences and individuality. These questions are examined in a specific manner. The focus chosen for this study puts on display how television programming utilizes its own conception of social order and of politics and also how it makes use of its power to impose a particular viewpoint regarding being and behavior. Television elaborates, legitimizes and institutionalizes a restrictive model of society and humankind that it desires to build up through operations in the media field and by the contents of each program it broadcasts. The Rede Globo network pursues certain strategies in an attempt to maintain market share, keeping itself close aligned to audience ratings. Their actions inclu

African states are often called corrupt indicating that the political system in Africa differs from the one prevalent in the economically advanced democracies. This however does not give us any insight into what makes corruption the ruling norm of African statehood. Thus we must turn to the overly neglected theoretical work on the political economy of Africa in order to determine how the poverty of governance in Africa is firmly anchored both in Africa’s domestic socioeconomic reality, as well as in the region’s role in the international economic order. Instead of focusing on increased monitoring, enforcement and formal democratic procedures, this book integrates economic analysis with political theory in order to arrive at a better understanding of the political-economic roots of corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa. / Häufig werden die afrikanischen Staaten als durch und durch ‚korrumpiert‘ bezeichnet, also unterstellt, dass sich die politischen Systeme Sub-Sahara Afrikas in ihrer Funktionsweise von denen fortgeschrittener Demokratien unterscheiden, ohne dass deutlich wird, was Korruption zur Norm afrikanischer Staatlichkeit macht. Aus diesem Grund greift diese Studie auf bereits vorliegende, aber häufig vernachlässigte theoretische Arbeiten zur politischen Ökonomie Sub-Sahara Afrikas zurück. Es wird gezeigt, wie ‚bad governance‘ in den sozioökonomischen Gegebenheiten afrikanischer Staaten verankert ist und welche Bedeutung die Rolle der afrikanischen Staaten innerhalb der Weltwirtschaftsordnung spielt. Anstatt immerzu die verschärfte Aufsicht und die Durchsetzung rechtsstaatlicher Prinzipien zu fordern, integriert diese Studie ökonomische Analyse mit politischer Theorie, um die politökonomischen Wurzeln der Korruption in Sub-Sahara Afrika besser verstehen zu können.

O objetivo central da tese é analisar se e como as economias emergentes ganharam poder no cenário político internacional, através do aumento de seus recursos de poder econômico. Como o foco do trabalho foi direcionado para a evolução do poder econômico das economias emergentes e suas implicações para o sistema de nações, a atenção maior foi dada às movimentações da economia política internacional, que não estão restritas aos organismos financeiros internacionais. Buscou-se mostrar que o jogo de poder se dá, preponderantemente, entre os Estados-nacionais. Neste trabalho foi analisado o funcionamento do sistema internacional contemporâneo, abordando-o através das principais correntes teóricas das relações internacionais. O tema em foco foi a distribuição de poder econômico no cenário político internacional. A hipótese considerada foi que alguns países emergentes têm aumentado seu poder global e desta forma impactado a organização do sistema e as relações econômicas internacionais. No capítulo 2 defende-se que o poder econômico, atualmente, pode ser considerado a principal fonte de poder tendo em vista os temas da agenda das relações internacionais. Defende-se que mesmo os EUA não sendo mais a nação hegemônica que garante a estabilidade do sistema, este ainda é o sistema criado pelos americanos e não há evidência de que haja alguma nação capaz de assumir a liderança e implantar outro sistema. Por último defendo que vivemos em um sistema internacional híbrido, que ora é anárquico, ora é cooperativo ou coordenado, dependendo da agenda internacional. O capítulo 3 trata das instituições de Bretton Woods e analisa sua evolução e o papel da moeda padrão. Reforça a análise do capítulo anterior quanto à inexistência de um movimento de ruptura ou mesmo de substituição da moeda americana como referência das transações internacionais inclusive na hipótese da adoção de uma unidade de conta baseada numa cesta de moedas. O atual sistema monetário internacional, no qual países exportadores de petróleo e a China sustentam o dólar americano como moeda de referência e o nível de consumo dos americanos, é a prova das dificuldades de institucionalização de uma nova ordem. No capítulo 4 distinguem-se os conceitos econômicos para estipular a melhora do bem-estar da população e como as mesmas estatísticas são utilizadas para medir o poder nas relações econômicas internacionais. Baseado no exposto considera-se que as economias emergentes estão aumentando sua fonte de poder econômico e começa a influir nas decisões que durante décadas foram limitadas ao G-7 e as evidências disso são a constituição do G-20, a participação no Grupo de Estabilidade Financeira do BIS e o aumento do peso nos votos do FMI. / The main objective of this thesis is to examine whether and how emerging economies have gained power in the international political scene, by increasing their economic power resources. As the focus of the study was directed towards the development of the economic power of emerging economies and its implications for the system of nations, greater attention was given to the movements of international political economy, which are not restricted to international financial organizations. We tried to show that the power game occurs, mainly, among National States. This work analyzed the functioning of the contemporary international system by addressing it through the principal theories of international relations. The theme in focus was the distribution of economic power in the international political scenario. The assumption made was that some emerging countries are increasing their global power and thus impacted the organization of the system and international economic relations. Chapter 2 argues that the economic power may currently be considered the main source of power in view of the topics on international relations agenda. It is argued that the U.S. is not even the most homogenous nation which ensures the stability of the system, this is still the system created by the Americans and there is no evidence that there is any nation able to take the leadership and implement a different system. Finally It’s argued that we live in an international hybrid system, which is sometimes anarchic, sometimes it is cooperative or coordinated depending on the international agenda. Chapter 3 deals with the Bretton Woods institutions and examines their evolution and role of the currency standard. Reinforces the analysis of the previous chapter as to the absence of a movement to break or even replacement of the U.S. currency as a benchmark for international transactions including the assumption of adopting a unit of account based on a basket of currencies. The current international monetary system in which oil exporters and China support the U.S. dollar as reference currency and the level of consumption of Americans is proof of the difficulties of institutionalizing a new order. Chapter 4 distinguished economic concepts to provide the improvement well-being of the population and how those statistics are used to measure power in international economic relations. Based on the foregoing it is considered that emerging economies are increasing their sources of economic power and begin to influence decisions which for decades limited to the G-7 and the evidence for this is the formation of G-20, participation in the Group Stability Financial BIS and increasing their weight in votes in the IMF.