At Different Speeds: Policy Complementarities and the Recovery from the Asian Crisis

This paper begins with a short review and discussion of the literature on policy complementarities and their implications in terms of (sustainable) growth strategies and the possible emergence of a new policy making paradigm. Then, it provides a descriptive analysis of the effect on economic growth of complementarities in structural policies in the specific context of the post-Asian crisis recovery. The study resulted in the computation of a reform-level indicator and of a complementarity indicator RC for the economies most affected by the Asian crisis—Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand. The comparative analysis shows that these indicators, when applied to a more comprehensive group of policy areas, are related to faster recoveries; importantly, decreasing or low RCs are related to slower recoveries. Furthermore, immediate resilience to the crisis seems to be stronger when a broader, more coherent set of policies is already in place. In general, the analysis suggests that while augmenting the levels of the so-called orthodox policies is necessary, it is not sufficient to generate high, sustainable post-crisis growth trajectories, as those policies must be complemented with others and evolve in a coherent, complementary way

Long-run suburbanization trends in Portugal

Using census data from 1960 to 2021, this graphic reveals how suburban municipalities evolved from representing less than 19% of the population in mainland Portugal to almost 39%. In particular, suburban municipalities constitute the only group of municipalities for which doubling population size occurred more often than not. At the same time, Lisbon and Porto, the central cities of the two metropolitan areas, lost 32% and 24%, respectively, of their population. The paper concludes by briefly enumerating the causes of suburbanization in Portugal that have been more discussed in the literature.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Analisador de vibrações de dois canais baseado em computador

O presente trabalho teve como principal objectivo o desenvolvimento de um analisador de vibrações de dois canais baseado em computador, para a realização de diagnóstico no âmbito do controlo de condição de máquinas. Foi desenvolvida uma aplicação num computador comum, no software LabVIEW, que através de transdutores de aceleração do tipo MEMS conectados via USB, faz a recolha de dados de vibração e procede ao seu processamento e apresentação ao utilizador. As ferramentas utilizadas para o processamento de dados são ferramentas comuns encontradas em vários analisadores de vibrações disponíveis no mercado. Estas podem ser: gráficos de espectro de frequência, sinal no tempo, cascata ou valores de nível global de vibração, entre outras. Apesar do analisador desenvolvido não apresentar inovação nas ferramentas de análise adoptadas, este pretende ser distinguido pelo baixo custo, simplicidade e carácter didáctico. Este trabalho vem evidenciar as vantagens, desvantagens e potencialidades de um analisador desta natureza. São tiradas algumas conclusões quanto à sua capacidade de diagnóstico de avarias, capacidades como ferramenta didáctica, sensores utilizados e linguagem de programação escolhida. Como conclusões principais, o trabalho revela que os sensores escolhidos não são os indicados para efectuar o diagnóstico de avarias em ambiente industrial, contudo são ideais para tornar este analisador numa boa ferramenta didáctica e de treino.The present work had, as main objective, the development of a two channel vibrations analyzer, based on a personal computer, to perform fault diagnosis within the subject of machine conditioning monitoring. It was developed an application, on an ordinary computer, using the software LabVIEW, which trough MEMS acceleration transducers, connected via USB, does the collection of vibration data and carry out the processing and presentation of the processed data to the user. The tools used for data processing are common tools found in various vibration analyzers available on the market. These may include: frequency spectrum plots, waveform plots, cascade plots or overall values, among others. Although the developed analyzer does not show considerable innovation in the adopted analysis tools, it aims to be distinguished by its low cost, simplicity, and didactic nature. This work pretends to highlight the advantages, disadvantages and potential of an analyzer of this nature. Some conclusions are drawn about the analyzer capability as a fault diagnosis application, teaching tool, and about the choice of transducers type and programming language. As main conclusions, the study reveals that the chosen sensors are not suitable for making the diagnosis of faults in an industrial environment, however, these are ideal to make thisanalyzer a good tool for teaching and training

Benefits and damages of the use of touchscreen devices for the development and behavior of children under 5 years old—a systematic review

Aim Several health organizations have been expressing concern about the amount of time children spend using electronic devices and about the benefits and damages of the use of touchscreen devices, such as smartphones or tablets, for the development and behavior of children under the age of 5. A systematic review was carried out in order to understand the impact of touchscreen device usage toward children’s development and behavior under the age of 5. Methods Using the PRISMA method, from a total of 6314 studies found in online databases, searched in English, between 01/01/2000 and 01/10/2018, 11 studies were selected for analysis. Results The results revealed that, in children under the age of 5, the damages of the use of touchscreen devices are superior to the benefits that may result, especially when there are more hours of screen time. More importance is given to the quality of the child-adult relationship and not to the use of touchscreen devices. Nevertheless, some studies emphasize some aspects that may reduce the negative effects, such as moderate use, less screen time, parental monitoring, and viewing educational programs in an academic environment. Conclusions Guidelines that should be given to parents about the use of touchscreen devices by children are discussed. The limitation of this study was the difficulty in finding studies directed to the desired age and type of electronic device. This may be taken as a potential cause of bias.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

CONSOLIDAÇÃO FISCAL NOS ESTADOS BRASILEIROS: UMA ANÁLISE DE DURAÇÃO

The objective of this paper is to analyze the Brazilian state fiscal consolidation in the period 1986-2001. For that propose, we apply the duration models methodology. Henceforth, we try to list the main features that can explain the probability of the continuity of a state fiscal adjustment conditional to the duration of this adjustment up to this moment. The non-parametric results suggest that the probability of the continuity of a fiscal consolidation falls dramatically after the first year and even more after the second one. The parametric analysis shows that there is a core of relevant variables, such as: the Number of Fails, the ratio Personal Costs/Net Current Revenue, the dummy variable to the years before the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, the dummy variable to the years after the refinance law 9496/97 and the Polarization of the Political Colligation in the states.