Um sistema financeiro eficiente é capaz de oferecer produtos e serviços adequados, especialmente crédito, com preço acessível, possibilitando a inclusão social dos cidadãos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar a contribuição do Sistema de Crédito Cooperativo para o aumento da eficiência econômica do Sistema Financeiro Nacional. O cooperativismo é o movimento que preconiza a colaboração e associação de pessoas com os mesmos interesses, a fim de maximizar resultados em suas atividades econômicas. Formalmente, o movimento surgiu em 1844, em Rochdale (Manchester/Inglaterra). No Brasil desde 1902, quando constituída a primeira cooperativa em Linha Imperial, atual município de Nova Petrópolis/RS, as cooperativas de crédito diferenciam-se do sistema bancário tradicional na medida em que aplicam os recursos na própria comunidade onde os captam. A evolução da legislação brasileira possibilitou a formação de grandes sistemas (SICOOB, SICREDI, UNICRED, CECRED e CONFESOL), sendo a capilaridade do segmento cooperativo um aspecto importante no aumento da eficiência do Sistema Financeiro Nacional (SFN), permitindo maior acesso as localidades e cidadãos que utilizam seus serviços. Em termos de mercado, o crédito cooperativo vem na última década apresentado crescimento superior a 20% ao ano e apesar de representar apenas 3% do crédito no Sistema Financeiro Nacional, tem grande destaque no financiamento rural, onde 41% do crédito originado no segmento cooperativo tem este objetivo, enquanto que no SFN, não chega a 10% (Banco Central do Brasil, 2012). Em termos de inadimplência de crédito, as cooperativas registraram picos de 2,39% em 2010, quando o mercado registrou taxas de 5,9% neste mesmo período. Ademais, contatou-se que as taxas praticadas pelas Cooperativas de Crédito em 2010 foram em média 31% menores que as praticadas pelo mercado de crédito convencional. Isso proporcionou um excedente do consumidor para os associados de R$ 2,87 bilhões em juros não pagos que retornaram para a economia, demonstrando a importância das cooperativas de crédito para o aumento da eficiência do Sistema Financeiro Nacional. / An efficient financial system is able to offer appropriate products and services, especially credit, affordable, enabling social inclusion of citizens. The objective of this study was to analyze the contribution of the Cooperative Credit System to increase the economic efficiency of the National Financial System. The cooperative movement is the movement which advocates collaboration and association of people with similar interests, in order to maximize results in their economic activities. Formally, the movement emerged in 1844 in Rochdale (Manchester/England). In Brazil since 1902, when the first cooperative formed in Imperial Line current municipality of Nova Petrópolis/RS, credit unions differ from traditional banking system to the extent that apply resources in their own community where the capture. The evolution of Brazilian law allowed the formation of large systems (SICOOB, SICREDI, UNICRED, CECRED and CONFESOL), the capillarity of the cooperative sector an important aspect in increasing the efficiency of the National Financial System (SFN), allowing greater access locations and citizens who use their services. In terms of market share, credit unions in the last decade has presented more than 20% per year growth and despite representing only 3% of credit in the financial system, has great prominence in rural finance, where 41% of loans originated in the cooperative sector has this goal, while SFN, does not reach 10% (Central Bank of Brazil, 2012). In terms of credit default cooperatives recorded peak of 2.39% in 2010, when the market rate of 5.9% recorded in the same period. Moreover, if contacted that the rates charged by credit unions in 2010 were on average 31% lower than those charged by conventional credit market. This provided a consumer surplus for members at R$ 2.87 billion in unpaid interest returning to the economy, demonstrating the importance of credit unions to increase the efficiency of the National Financial System.

A metrópole de São Paulo passa por profundas transformações desde a década de 1990. O chamado vetor sudoeste se elaborou como a novacentralidade econômica do país. Esse processo se remete à reprodução do espaço urbano como condição, meio e produto da acumulação de capital. A potência desse fenômeno e dessa condição é relativamente nova. A história da concentração geográfica do capitalna cidade de São Paulo favoreceu sempre a abertura de novas oportunidades de investimentos in loco, mas a intensidade do processo aumenta exponencialmente quando um movimento de concentração começa a dar lugar à centralização geográfica do capital.A partir daí, a concentração se torna, ela mesma, a condição de reposição de novas oportunidades de investimentos na centralidade constituída, numa dinâmica que consome configurações espaciais previamente capitalistas. Trata-se de uma acumulação especificamente urbana. No Brasil, essa dinâmica espacial do capital não foi tão significativa até a década de 1990. A hipótese que explica esse descompasso no caso brasileiro reconhece a prioridade do processo de produção sobre a reprodução do espaço urbano. Isso significa que a urbanização se estendeu no tempo porque pôde se estender no espaço. A urbanização expandida do território brasileiro foi aqui objeto da ação de um Estado comprometido com a realização do capital e assim absorveu lucrativamente os excedentes frequentemente gerados na economia brasileira. Com a crise do Estado desenvolvimentista e com as condições apresentadas nos grandes centros nacionais, o processo de valorização exigiu mais do que se podia conseguir com a manutenção de uma enfraquecida dinâmica expansionista. Aqui o Estado se reorganiza e cria novos instrumentosque o permitem atuar na escala metropolitana. A produção de novas centralidades, como momento da reprodução do espaço urbano, e a centralização geográfica diminuem a importância das dinâmicas expansionistas na realização do capital. A intensificação geográfica do capital, na era das finanças mundializadas, passa a compor o centro das estratégias de acumulação. / The metropolis of São Paulo has undergone profound changes since the 1990s. The so-called southwest vector has established itself as the new economic centre in the country. This process relates to the reproduction of the urban space as a condition, means and product of capital accumulation. The strength of this phenomenon and of this condition is relatively new. The history of the geographical concentration of capital in the city of São Paulo has always privileged new investment opportunitiesin loco, however, whenever the movement of concentration starts to give way to geographic centralization of capital, the process intensifies exponentially. At this point, the concentration itself becomes the condition for the reestablishment of new investment opportunities in the recently instituted centrality: a dynamics that consume previous capitalist spatial configurations. And thisis a specifically urban accumulation. In Brazil, the spatial dynamics of capital had not been significant until the 1990s decade. The hypothesis used to explain the mismatch in the case of Brazil recognizes the priority of the production process over thereproduction of the urban space. That means that the urbanization has extended in time just because it could extend in space. The expanded urbanization of the Brazilian territory has been the result of a state policy committed to capital development, therefore, it has absorbed profitably the surpluses frequently generated in the Brazilian economy. Due to the crisis of developmentalism and the conditions prevailing in the major national centers, the valorization process required more than could be achieved with the maintenance of a weak expansionist dynamics. From this point on, the state reorganizes itself and creates new instruments that permit action at the metropolitan scale. The production of new centers, as a dimension of the reproduction of urban space, as well as the geographical centralization, diminish the importance of the expansionist dynamics for capital. In the age of global finance, the geographical intensification of capital becomes the mainstay of accumulation strategies.

The division of resources between a group of people may cause con- flicts: Individuals with varying roles and responsibilities will claim different shares of the surplus to be divided. In this dissertation, we analyze how the decision to form a group will influence the bargaining behaviour of the members of that group. People will act collectively as certain tasks may require the participation of a specific number of individuals before it can be completed. We examine whether certain mechanisms can efficiently promote group formation for the sake of surplus production, and then, what will be the effect of these mechanisms on the behaviour of the group members. For these reasons, we constructed a novel surplus production and distribution interaction which we call the Anticipation Game (AG). The AG can be played between only two players (pairwise interaction) or among more then two players (group interaction). In our study we will analyze both the pairwise AG and the group version of AG, first by obtaining our own empirical data and then by performing a stochastic evolutionary analysis. We aim to provide answers on: i) how will a reputation based partner approval mechanism influence the surplus distribution in both the pairwise and the group AG, ii) will then limitations in obtaining the reputation of a potential partner alter the results of the pairwise AG? iii) will we notice any effect on the behaviour of players when they can repeatedly cooperate with the same partners in group interactions, iv) how natural selection may have shaped the behaviour of players in group formation interactions (both pairwise and group AG evolutionary analysis). / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Concentrating on G.W.F. Hegel’s controversial Naturphilosophie (1830), Part I ventures the following thesis: Hegelian nature is characterized by a “constitutive lack.” Insofar as the natural register lacks the precision and necessity immanent within the dialectical developments of conceptual thought it is capable of radical novelty—the unexpected. This is important: it offers a sense of how the natural register is open to thought and yet, simultaneously, a source of that which has the perpetual possibility of undermining conceptual distinctions and anticipations. The remainder of the project systematically maps what such a conception of nature must mean in terms of Hegel’s concept of spirit (Geist). Consequently, Part II analyzes Hegel’s bizarre account of psychopathology. The central thesis in this context claims that what Hegel’s speculative analysis of ‘madness’ shows us are the ways in which subjectivity might be dominated by its material-instinctual dimension as it unfolds within the unconscious depths of concrete subjectivity. Subjectivity retains the perpetual possibility of regression insofar as it reverts to being materially (maternally) determined strictly by way of externality. Questioning the presupposition of nature’s complete sublation, Part III focuses on Hegel’s political writings. Hegel’s analysis of criminality and punishment allows for the possibility of what we will call “surplus repressive punishment.” A surplus repressive punishment, a brute form of natural external pressure, would constitute spirit’s, i.e. freedom’s, “regressive de-actualization” at both the individual (subjective) and intersubjective (objective, communal) levels. Therefore, surplus repressive punishment, as an expression of spirit’s naturality, serves to undermine spirit’s objective actualization in its entirety. The problem of nature remains very much an active dimension of spirit’s concrete actualization at the socio-political level. The project offers a precise indication of how Hegel’s philosophy of spirit, i.e. his philosophy of freedom, is one intertwined with the problem instantiated by the matrices of nature. Sensitivity to this problem, that there is a problem here, and that Hegel’s system can be pursued to address it is one of the not always recognized merits of his thought. Simultaneously, Hegel’s system becomes surprisingly relevant for our contemporary world insofar as nature remains a problem for our living present.

Um sistema financeiro eficiente é capaz de oferecer produtos e serviços adequados, especialmente crédito, com preço acessível, possibilitando a inclusão social dos cidadãos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar a contribuição do Sistema de Crédito Cooperativo para o aumento da eficiência econômica do Sistema Financeiro Nacional. O cooperativismo é o movimento que preconiza a colaboração e associação de pessoas com os mesmos interesses, a fim de maximizar resultados em suas atividades econômicas. Formalmente, o movimento surgiu em 1844, em Rochdale (Manchester/Inglaterra). No Brasil desde 1902, quando constituída a primeira cooperativa em Linha Imperial, atual município de Nova Petrópolis/RS, as cooperativas de crédito diferenciam-se do sistema bancário tradicional na medida em que aplicam os recursos na própria comunidade onde os captam. A evolução da legislação brasileira possibilitou a formação de grandes sistemas (SICOOB, SICREDI, UNICRED, CECRED e CONFESOL), sendo a capilaridade do segmento cooperativo um aspecto importante no aumento da eficiência do Sistema Financeiro Nacional (SFN), permitindo maior acesso as localidades e cidadãos que utilizam seus serviços. Em termos de mercado, o crédito cooperativo vem na última década apresentado crescimento superior a 20% ao ano e apesar de representar apenas 3% do crédito no Sistema Financeiro Nacional, tem grande destaque no financiamento rural, onde 41% do crédito originado no segmento cooperativo tem este objetivo, enquanto que no SFN, não chega a 10% (Banco Central do Brasil, 2012). Em termos de inadimplência de crédito, as cooperativas registraram picos de 2,39% em 2010, quando o mercado registrou taxas de 5,9% neste mesmo período. Ademais, contatou-se que as taxas praticadas pelas Cooperativas de Crédito em 2010 foram em média 31% menores que as praticadas pelo mercado de crédito convencional. Isso proporcionou um excedente do consumidor para os associados de R$ 2,87 bilhões em juros não pagos que retornaram para a economia, demonstrando a importância das cooperativas de crédito para o aumento da eficiência do Sistema Financeiro Nacional. / An efficient financial system is able to offer appropriate products and services, especially credit, affordable, enabling social inclusion of citizens. The objective of this study was to analyze the contribution of the Cooperative Credit System to increase the economic efficiency of the National Financial System. The cooperative movement is the movement which advocates collaboration and association of people with similar interests, in order to maximize results in their economic activities. Formally, the movement emerged in 1844 in Rochdale (Manchester/England). In Brazil since 1902, when the first cooperative formed in Imperial Line current municipality of Nova Petrópolis/RS, credit unions differ from traditional banking system to the extent that apply resources in their own community where the capture. The evolution of Brazilian law allowed the formation of large systems (SICOOB, SICREDI, UNICRED, CECRED and CONFESOL), the capillarity of the cooperative sector an important aspect in increasing the efficiency of the National Financial System (SFN), allowing greater access locations and citizens who use their services. In terms of market share, credit unions in the last decade has presented more than 20% per year growth and despite representing only 3% of credit in the financial system, has great prominence in rural finance, where 41% of loans originated in the cooperative sector has this goal, while SFN, does not reach 10% (Central Bank of Brazil, 2012). In terms of credit default cooperatives recorded peak of 2.39% in 2010, when the market rate of 5.9% recorded in the same period. Moreover, if contacted that the rates charged by credit unions in 2010 were on average 31% lower than those charged by conventional credit market. This provided a consumer surplus for members at R$ 2.87 billion in unpaid interest returning to the economy, demonstrating the importance of credit unions to increase the efficiency of the National Financial System.

El presente documento tiene por objetivo analizar el impacto de la introducción de impuestos en la industria de telefonía móvil. Un impuesto común en este sector es el canon cobrado para financiar las actividades de fiscalización y supervisión del uso del espectro radioeléctrico. Con tal fin, se modificó el modelo de competencia entre redes móviles propuesto por Laffont, Rey yTirole (1998), para lo que se introdujo tres diferentes estructuras impositivas: un impuesto específico por cada minuto de telefonía móvil (impuesto de tipo I), un impuesto en función de la participación de mercado de cada una de las redes (impuesto de tipo II) y un impuesto lump-sum (impuesto de tipo III). Como resultado del modelo se obtiene que las firmas consiguen trasladar a los consumidores el total del impuesto (disminuyendo el excedente del consumidor) cuando la estructura impositiva es tipo I y II. Por el contrario, cuando el impuesto es de tipo III, los precios y las cantidades de equilibrio, así como el excedente del consumidor, se mantienen constantes.---The present document has for aim analyze the impact of the introduction of taxes in the industry of mobile telephony. A common tax in this sector is the canon received to finance the activities of taxation and supervision of the use of the radio spectrum. With such an end, the competition model between mobile networks proposed by Laffont, Rey and Tirole (1998), was modified introducing three different tax structures: a tax I specify in every minute of mobile telephony (TaxType I), a tax depending on the participation of market of each one of the networks (tax type II) and a tax lump-sum (Tax Type III). Since results of the model, obtains that the signatures manage to move the consumers the whole of the tax (diminishing the consumer surplus) when the tax structure is a type I and type II. On the contrary, when the tax is of type III, the prices and the quantities of balance, as well as the surplus of the consumer, they have been keeping constant.

One important issue in mechanism design theory is to model agents’ behaviors under uncertainty. The classical approach assumes that agents hold commonly known probability assessments towards uncertainty, which has been challenged by economists in many fields. My thesis adopts alternative methods to model agents’ behaviors. The new findings contribute to understanding how the mechanism designer can benefit from agents’ uncertainty aversion and how she should respond to the lack of information on agents’ probability assessments. Chapter 1 of this thesis allows the mechanism designer to introduce ambiguity to the mechanism. Instead of informing agents of the precise payment rule that she commits to, the mechanism designer can tell agents multiple payment rules that she may have committed to. The multiple payment rules are called ambiguous transfers. As agents do not know which rule is chosen by the designer, they are assumed to make decisions based on the worst-case scenario. Under this assumption, this chapter characterizes when the mechanism designer can obtain the first-best outcomes by introducing ambiguous transfers. Compared to the standard approach where the payment rule is unambiguous, first-best mechanism design becomes possible under a broader information structure. Hence, there are cases when the mechanism designer can benefit from introducing ambiguity. Chapter 2 assumes that the mechanism designer does not know agents’ probability assessments about others’ private information. The mechanisms designed to implement the social choice function thus should not depend on the probability assessments, which are called robust mechanisms. Different from the existing robust mechanism design literature where agents are always assumed to act non-cooperatively, this chapter allows them to communicate and form coalitions. This chapter provides necessary and almost sufficient conditions for robustly implementing a social choice function as an equilibrium that is immune to all coalitional deviations. As there are social choice functions that are only implementable with coalitional structures, this chapter provides insights on when agents should be allowed to communicate. As an extension, when the mechanism designer has no information on which coalitions can be formed, this chapter also provides conditions for robust implementation under all coalition patterns. Chapter 3 assumes that agents are not probabilistic about others’ private information. Instead, when they hold ambiguous assessments about others’ information, they make decisions based on the worst-case belief. This chapter provides necessary and almost sufficient conditions on when a social choice goal is implementable under such a behavioral assumption. As there are social choice goals that are only implementable under ambiguous assessments, this chapter provides insights on what information structure is desirable to the mechanism designer.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / With the advent of democracy, the ANC government was faced with the problem of addressing abject poverty, persistent unemployment and rank economic inequality that beset black South Africans under apartheid. To address these problems in a structured and comprehensive fashion, the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003 (BBBEE Act) was promulgated. Several economists believed that growth in the economy is the bedrock upon which black economic empowerment would provide the foundation to correct these economic problems. This study sought to interrogate black economic empowerment as a means to address economic inequality and unemployment. The method of analysis and critique employed in this study is based on theories that Marx formulated in Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. In particular, this study draws on Marx’s theories of fictitious capital, surplus value production and appropriation, and the creation of the industrial reserve army. The thesis uses the theory to examine two BEE cases namely the Sanlam and Sasol equity transactions. It also analyses the relationship between productive capital and fictitious capital through an examination of Lonmin plc and Shanduka Pty Ltd, with a focus on the use of labour power to produce surplus value. Finally, it looks briefly at Sanlam and Sankorp to understand the rise of the black middle class in South Africa. Ultimately, this study charts a Marxist path to explain why black economic empowerment is unable to address economic inequality and unemployment. At the centre of this study is the problematisation of the capitalist mode of production on which black economic empowerment rests. The central argument advanced is that the very capitalist structure upon which this growth strategy was based, in fact laid the foundation for the reproduction of these self-same phenomena.

The main aim of the thesis is to optimize the management of the production process with the focus on the material flows in the manufacturing company Jung in Brno. The thesis takes into consideration the analysis of the current state of the company. In addition, the thesis describes the production programs and processes with the focus on the material flow and material stocks. The work also aims to identify and minimize bottlenecks in the production process. Apart from the main directions along which the material goes, the process of supply, removal from storage and efficiency of working with material during production is analyzed. The findings of the thesis of the work are suggestions that would make the operational business management effective, reduce production costs and increase the dynamics of the transformation process of production.

Demand curves were estimated for waterfowl hunting and nonconsumptive recreational use from use rate and variable expenditure data collected at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area during fiscal 1969. Consumer's surplus and monopoly revenue estimates were then derived from the demand functions. Adjusted estimates of consumer's surplus for waterfowl hunting amounted to $7,260 per year at Bear River and $11,400 per year at Farmington Bay. For nonconsumptive recreation annual consumer's surplus was estimated to be $18,700 at Bear River and $3,760 at Farmington Bay. Monopoly revenue estimates were between one-half and one-fourth the corresponding consumer's surplus estimates. The capitalized value (at 8 percent interest) of predicted annual consumer's surplus for all recreation was $865,800 for Bear River and $299,000 for Farmington Boy. Capitalization of the corresponding monopoly revenue estimates gave $276,900 for Bear River and $92,100 for Farmington Bay. At 3 percent interest, the capitalized consumer's surplus values increase to $4,242,000 for Bear River and $1,184,000 for Farmington Buy, while those for monopoly revenue increase to $1,330,000 for Bear River and $350,000 for Farmington Bay. The author believes that consumer's surplus estimates are more valuable than monopoly revenue estimates for comparison with other values included in the benefit/cost analysis of water development projects because the needed values include more than a non-discriminating monopolist can extract. It will never be possible to make additive estimates of all of the relevant values of natural areas used for outdoor recreation. Allocation decisions must draw on several disciplines in addition to economics to determine where the balance will swing for the greatest net benefit to society, nevertheless, the author believes that exceptions exist where the native flora and fauna can be managed to attract visitors such than an area can remain in natural production in perpetuity and be competitive with potentially conflicting interests in terms of measurable economic values. It is believed that future research should concentrate on high-value sites and be directed toward sensitivity analysis, the simultaneous evaluation of alternative uses, the influence of the travel-time variable, marginal resource values, and off-site benefits.