A MATERNIDADE E A MULHER NO MERCADO DE TRABALHO: DIFERENÇA DE COMPORTAMENTO ENTRE MULHERES QUE TÊM E MULHERES QUE NÃO TÊM FILHOS

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of motherhood on the engagement of women in the labor market. To deal with the endogeneity inherent to the relation children-engagement, the event of 'stillborn' was used as an instrument to fertility. In addition to the traditional estimation methods, matching methods were also considered. The results obtained indicate that motherhood has a negative effect on women participation on the labor market. This impact seems not to vary with the number of children and tends to reduce in the 'long run'. The estimates show too that women with no children work more than women that have children. The differential varies with the number of children and is bigger in the long run - different results are obtained if compared with estimates about participation. Finally, the results indicate that motherhood does not affect the wage-hour in the long run.

O EFEITO DA QUALIDADE DA ESCOLA SOBRE O DESEMPENHO ESCOLAR: UMA AVALIAÇÃO DO ENSINO FUNDAMENTAL NO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

The research on the relation between school quality and student achievement have many different results, but most analysts conclude that the school quality has little influence on student performance, as compared to background characteristics. However, there are evidences that difficulties using school inputs to represent school quality could underestimate the quality-achievement relation. The alternative methods suggested in this study are independent of school inputs. In both methods we have used data about 4th grade of Elementary School in São Paulo State from SAEB 2001. In the first one, a decomposition of standardized test score inequality - in part explained by school differences and another by background characteristics - indicates that school differences can explain something between 0.0 and 28.4% of Portuguese score inequality and between 8.7 and 34.4% of Mathematics score inequality. The second method estimates the school impact on student achievement by fixed effects, including dummy variables for each school. It's possible to obtain the interpretation from the simulations made that as for Portuguese as for Mathematics the means of SAEB scores can be improved in one standard deviation, which means 3 years of schooling when all students are included. This also happens when only students from public schools are included (three years of schooling for mathematics and 2.4 for Portuguese scores). This study indicates that educational policies and investments can improve student achievement by replicating existing experiences in the present educational system.

Emprego, salários e redução da Jornada de trabalho

The purpose of the present paper is to analyse the efficacy of a reduction of the normal working week as an instrument of employment policy. The author criticizes the macroeconomic analysis so far elaborated in an attempt to verify the effects of the reduction of the working week since those analysis do not explain plainly the theories of wage and employment that corroborate them. Moreover it is emphasized the inadequacy of taking the outcomes of microeconomic models to criticize the reduction of the working week as a way of fighting unemployment, since the results for a individual firm may be fully counteracted when the reduction of working week occurs in a generalized way. The approach used in the study is basically Keynesian, stressing the microeconomic aspects of the effective demand. Consequently It was possible to analyse the effects of a generalized reduction in the normal working week throughout the analysis of an individual firm behaviour.O presente artigo tem como objetivo analisar a eficácia da redução da jornada normal de trabalho como um instrumento de política de emprego. O autor critica as análises macroeconômlcas até então elaboradas para verificar os efeitos da redução da jornada de trabalho, uma vez que elas não expiicitam claramente a teoria de emprego e de formação de salários que lhes dão sustentação. Por outro lado, chama a atenção para a impropriedade de se utilizar os resultados extraídos dos modelos microeconômicos para se criticar a redução da jornada de trabalho como forma de combater o desemprego, pois os resultados obtidos para uma firma individual podem ser totalmente contrrários quandoa redução da jornada de trabalho ocorrer de maneira generalizada. A abordagem adotada no trabalho é de inspiração keynesiana, dando atenção aos aspectos microeconômicos da demanda efetiva. Deste modo, foi possível analisar os efeitos de uma redução generalizada da jornada normal de trabalho, a partir da análise do comportamento de uma flrma individual.

Encargos sociais e demanda por trabalho no setor formal da economia

This paper analyses theoretically the Brazilian debate about employees' pay roll social contribution. To evaluate the social contribution burden on pay roll it uses employees welfare as criterion of the analysis. It proposes as measure of this burden the difference between costs and benefits both imposed by law, where the benefits are a worker's subjective dimension. Therefore, the social contribution burden has a precise meaning. It is similar to pay roll tax and it provides a measure of the incentive to employers and employees to move from formal to informal labor market. This paper deals also with the matter of the changing the collection source, from pay roll tax to value added tax. It concludes it isn't a proposition to be defended easily

CONTRIBUIÇÃO AO INSS: EQUILÍBRIO FINANCEIRO E IMPOSTO SOBRE O TRABALHO

In this paper, we calculate the necessary payroll tax to reach the financial equilibrium of the retirement system for formal workers in the private sector in Brazil (INSS). Such an exercise allows us to identify the formal employees who contribute to the increase of the INSS deficit. Although we do not know the subjective value of the benefits provided by INSS for each worker, our intention is to have an idea of the tax (or subsidy) for each contributor, given by the simple difference between the actual and the necessary payroll tax. Using the Brazilian Household Survey (PNAD) for the year 2001, the conclusion is that the necessary payroll tax to balance the system varies within 0.19 and 0.33 percent, depending on the hypotheses about the duration of the contribution; and those related to disability benefits. Finally, we show a great dispersion when we compare taxes among different groups of workers. This result indicates that INSS is a powerful instrument to reduce wage inequality, when transferring resources from groups of a large wage category to those of a lower.

SISTEMA BRASILEIRO DE FINANCIAMENTO À EDUCAÇÃO BÁSICA: PRINCIPAIS CARACTERÍSTICAS, LIMITAÇÕES E ALTERNATIVAS

Education is fundamental for social and economic development and school finance is one of the main features of an educational system. Assuming that a greater amount of resources brings more school quality, one can say that an "appropriate" primary and secondary school finance system should guarantee: (i) a satisfactory level of resources per pupil in each educational level; and (ii) equal opportunities for all students. This paper aims to analyze in what extent the actual system, particularly the Fundef, it is well succeeded in accomplishing these objectives, determining its main characteristics and limitations. The results suggest that although Fundef promoted a better resource distribution in the northern and northeastern regions, when considering the whole country the final result is negative. Besides that, when projecting future enrolment, two out of three scenarios indicate that Fundef distortions are worsened. Considering that, we also analyze the possible impacts of school finance centralization, including redistributive impacts among state, state's capital and other municipalities.

INCORPORANDO O ATRASO ESCOLAR E AS CARACTERÍSTICAS SÓCIO- DEMOGRÁFICAS NAS TAXAS DE TRANSIÇÃO EDUCACIONAL: UM MODELO DE FLUXO ESCOLAR

The aim of this paper is to introduce a model of student flows. Starting with two years of the Brazilian Household Survey PNAD (2002 and 2003), school transition rates are identified for primary school and high school. These rates are used to project the education- related data in PNAD until 2009. The main contribution of the paper is to condition transition rates on schooling delay, unlike previous studies, which relied on a Markovian model. Furthermore, demographics are also taken into account. The estimates suggest that first grade entrance and approved rates decrease with schooling delay and increase with more educated parents. The projections indicate a smaller enrollment in the early grades of primary school. This may be the consequence of the primary school universalization, which has taken place in the last decade. The projections also indicate a significant rise in enrollment in high school.