Firms and Social Policy in the Post-Communist Bloc: Evidence from Russia *

Abstract When does business support the expansion of social policy in the developing world? Existing work on managers preferences has tended to concentrate on the developed world, where governments can credibly commit to policy, tax evasion is constrained, and mechanisms exist to hold the bureaucracy accountable for policy implementation. In this paper, I relax these assumptions, arguing that weak institutions create opportunities for some firms to shift costs onto others: making social policy more attractive. I argue that firms with political connections are uniquely positioned to benefit from subsidies and property rights protection, which decreases the cost of social policy, while firms with low visibility can evade taxes and free-ride off universalistic social policy. I test this argument using a survey of 666 firms in 10 Russian regions

Desenvolvimento de um medidor de energia integrado à internet das coisas para gestão pelo lado da demanda

TCC (graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Campus Araranguá. Engenharia de Energia.Com o aumento populacional nos últimos anos, a crescente demanda de energia torna-se um desafio a ser superado, em especial pelo setor elétrico. Cada vez mais equipamentos são conectados à rede elétrica, e é necessário que o usuário final passe a consumir a energia elétrica de forma consciente. Uma das maneiras de promover esse consumo consciente é monitorar o consumo para avaliar o comportamento de consumo de forma que o mesmo possa consultar e tomar decisões sobre seus hábitos de utilização dos equipamentos elétricos baseado no seu comportamento de consumo. A popularização da Internet das Coisas, proporciona que objetos comuns do nosso cotidiano possam estar conectados entre si por meio da internet. Dessa forma, a disponibilização dos dados de consumo de energia pode ser feita em uma plataforma online com interface amigável e intuitiva para o consumidor. Este trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento de um dispositivo baseado em Internet das Coisas para a medição de consumo de energia elétrica de baixo custo, onde o usuário poderá acompanhar o seu consumo instantâneo, diário, semanal e mensal de energia elétrica.With the population growth in recent years, the growing demand for energy becomes a challenge to be overcome, especially by the electricity sector. More and more equipment are connected to the grid, and it is necessary that the end user consume the electric energy in a conscious way. One way to promote this conscious consumption is monitoring consumption to assess consumer behavior. Thus, it is possible to consult and make decisions about habits of use of electrical equipment based on consumption behavior. The popularization of the Internet of Things provides that everyday objects of our daily life can be connected to each other through the internet. This way, the availability of energy consumption data can be done in an online platform with a user friendly and intuitive interface. This work presents the development of an Internet of Things based device for the measurement electricity consumption, which allows the supervision of the instantaneous, daily, weekly and monthly electricity consumption

Political Institutions and Preferences for Social Policy in the Post-communist World

Who supports social policy in the developing world? Most of what we know about micro-level preferences for social policy comes from well-developed, wealthy countries of the OECD, where governments can credibly commit to policy enforcement and implementation. This dissertation explores preferences for social policy in post-communist countries, where weak constraints on the state challenge the welfare state. In doing so, it provides novel insights both into social policy debates in these countries and the coalitions which support (or oppose) social policy. I argue that support for social policy depends on how institutions shape the expectations of actors about the costs they pay into social policy programs versus future benefits. I draw on existing theories of political economy to propose four mechanisms -- misappropriation, contract enforcement, free-riding, and macro-economic risk -- that alter the distribution of winners and losers from social policy. Misappropriation stems from officials' ability to divert funding away from intended uses. While for most this imposes dead-weight costs on social policy, where institutions are poor. the politically well-connected can benefit from diverted funds to decrease social policy costs. The contract enforcement mechanism emerges due to the inability of weakly constrained states to enforce contracts. Predictions are similar to misappropriation, but actors also cannot trust other private actors with control of social policy. Free-riding emerges when bureaucrats are unwilling to expend effort to ensure tax compliance. Again, this imposes dead-weight costs on most, but garners support from tax evaders, who can free-ride. Finally, the macro-economic risk mechanism suggests that macro-economic volatility is heightened in settings with weak institutions, which increases both individual risk and support for social policy. The empirical portion of the dissertation tests the observable implications of each of these mechanisms. Chapter 2 provides a first-cut, cross-national test of part of the argument using micro-level data from a cross-national survey of 28 post-communist countries. I draw on work on informality in the post-communist world to identify individual characteristics associated with tax evasion to test the free-rider mechanism. Consistent with it, I show that those associated with evasion support social policy more where institutions are weaker. Chapter 3 posits that if the mechanisms I propose matter, actors will appeal to the logic of my theory during concrete reform debates. I test this using evidence from the 2001 pension reforms in Russia. I combine analysis of the legislative debates surrounding reform with in-depth content analysis of the Russian media, which draws on an original dataset of all mentions of reform in 352 Russian newspapers, journals, and trade magazines. I show that all four mechanisms were indeed major concerns. Chapter 4 tests the theory at the firm level, using a survey of 666 Russian firms to look at preferences where institutional quality is weak. I test whether firms that I predict support the welfare state in such settings -- those with political connections and a comparative advantage in hiding from the authorities -- actually do so. In addition to providing some support for the misappropriation and free-riding mechanisms, this chapter is a contribution in its own right: it is among the first to use surveys to study firms' preferences for social policy. Finally, chapter 5 uses a survey experiment conducted on 1600 respondents to attempt to understand the ceteris paribus effect of institutions on the average individual. Using a simple framing experiment, I provide three different treatment groups with information about bribery, tax evasion, and the extent to which private pension funds commit fraud to test the misappropriation, free-riding, and contract enforcement mechanisms, respectively. The chapter offers mixed evidence. The dissertation makes contributions to both the study of the welfare state and the political economy of institutions and investment. First, the dissertation explores preferences for social policy in the developing world and introduces institutional quality concerns to this literature. My work particularly focuses attention on the ways certain groups can abuse social policy to pass costs onto others, adding nuance to existing understandings of who benefits from social policy. Second, it advances our understanding of how institutional quality shapes economic decision making and provides evidence as to how different pathologies of poor institutions shape economic decisions

Challenges and advances in the management process of a psychosocial care center of a countryside municipality of northeast Brazil

Objective: To analyze the process of work adopted by professionals involved in the management and care of a Psychosocial Care Center and the appropriateness of the physical structure of the unit and the mental health practices. Methods: qualitative, descriptive study held at the Psychosocial Care Center, in a city in the countryside of Ceará, Brazil, with nine professionals, between the months of September and October, 2014. We used a semi-structured data collection; data were categorized and analyzed according to Minayo. The authorization was obtained from the CEP-UECE under protocol CAAE: 36971014.0.0000.5534. Results: there is a lack of coparticipation between management and workers, shortage of financial resources and inadequate physical structure, which confirms the fragmentation of the work process. Conclusion: it is essential that there is an implementation of measures that consolidate the psychiatric reform, and that professionals interrelate in a co-participative way, aiming at the quality of care

On a new conformal functional for simplicial surfaces

We introduce a smooth quadratic conformal functional and its weighted version $$W_2=\sum_e \beta^2(e)\quad W_{2,w}=\sum_e (n_i+n_j)\beta^2(e),$$ where $\beta(e)$ is the extrinsic intersection angle of the circumcircles of the triangles of the mesh sharing the edge $e=(ij)$ and $n_i$ is the valence of vertex $i$. Besides minimizing the squared local conformal discrete Willmore energy $W$ this functional also minimizes local differences of the angles $\beta$. We investigate the minimizers of this functionals for simplicial spheres and simplicial surfaces of nontrivial topology. Several remarkable facts are observed. In particular for most of randomly generated simplicial polyhedra the minimizers of $W_2$ and $W_{2,w}$ are inscribed polyhedra. We demonstrate also some applications in geometry processing, for example, a conformal deformation of surfaces to the round sphere. A partial theoretical explanation through quadratic optimization theory of some observed phenomena is presented.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, to appear in the proceedings of "Curves and Surfaces, 8th International Conference", June 201

fotografia e propaganda no Boletim da Mocidade Portuguesa Feminina (1939-1947)

UIDB/00417/2020 UIDP/00417/2020 PTDC/CPC-HAT/4533/2014As imagens que constroem o ideal de “nova” mulher do Estado Novo Português estabelecem um importante guia para compreender a forma heterodoxa e “contraditória” como foi usada a fotografia enquanto meio de inculcação de um modelo feminino consentâneo com a ideologia do regime. Estas revelam uma intrínseca dialética entre temas / formas “tradicionalistas” e “modernistas”. Tomando como objecto de análise as fotografias publicadas no Boletim da Mocidade Portuguesa Feminina (1939-1947), o objectivo deste artigo é compreender de que modo esta dialética é realizada ao serviço de propaganda do Estado Novo. The images that outlined the “new” women ideal of the Portuguese New State government (Estado Novo), set an important guide to understand how the photography was used to establish a female role model consentaneous with the regime ideology. At first glance these images appear odd and contradictory, but a closer look one can identify an intrinsic dialectic between “tradition” and “modernist” themes and forms. Taking as case study the Boletim de Mocidade Portuguesa Feminina (Portuguese Women’s Youth Bulletin) (1939-1947), the aim of this work is to analyze how this dialectic was operated at the service of the New State propagandapublishersversionpublishe

Factors Related to the Quality of Life in the Context of Deaf Sign Language Users in Brazil

Introduction Deaf sign language users population often has been facing linguistic difficulties regarding to interacting with people who are not aware who have not learnt about using sign language such difficulties may have been revealing serious consequences to their social emotional and also cognitive development Objective This study has aimed to analyze the factors which may be associated with the best scoring of Quality of Life QOL in a group of deaf Brazilian sign language Libras users Methods It is a quantitative study whose data collection has been assessing using the WHOQOL-BREF scale and a sample profile questionnaire as well Sixty 60 deaf Libras users who has been living in Southern region of Brazil have participated Statistical analysis was used by means of descriptive statistical methods and inference methods considering the significance level of 0 05

AGRONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF FERTILIZERS BASED ON HUMUS, ROCK POWDER, AND MINERALS ON SOYBEAN YIELD IN PARAGUAY-PY

Soybean is the most commercially cultivated crop in Paraguay, and obtaining high yields requires the application of large amounts of fertilizers, raising the cost of production. Developing strategies for the efficient use of applied nutrients is necessary. Therefore, the study aimed to evaluate the agronomic efficiency of combinations of mineral fertilizers with organic matter and rock powder in the development, nutrition, and yield of soybean. The experiment was carried out in Hernandarias, Paraguay, in the 2016-2017 harvest. The different fertilizers influenced the absorption of Zn, Mg and K, and grain yield. Among the treatments, the highlight was the agronomic efficiency index obtained by the replacement of 30% of mineral fertilizer by humus, presenting grain yield of 3219, 67 kg ha-1. However, it was equal to the mixing 30% of humus + rock powder with 70% of NPK formulation 04:40:10 with grain yield of 3206.50 kg ha-1, and the mixing 20% of humus + rock powder with 80% of NPK formulation 04:40:10 with grain yield of 3165.17 kg ha-1. Thus, it is recommended to use rock powder and humus in soybean production in Paraguay, especially in Latossolos (Oxisols) that have little organic matter and low CTC

Clinical research during the year of obligatory practice : our second year of experience

Introducción: Es conocida la preocupación mundial por la disminución de los médicos-investigadores. La investigación permite el desarrollo de destrezas como búsqueda bibliográfica, análisis reflexivo de información y contribuye a mejorar habilidades diagnósticas y terapéuticas. Nuestro curriculum incluye cursos como epidemiología y bioestadística, que promueven la adquisición de destrezas para la realización de un proyecto de investigación, pero pocos llegan a ejecutarse. Objetivo: Promover en los estudiantes de la carrera de medicina una actitud positiva hacia la investigación. Desarrollo del proyecto: En 2016 se sumó como actividad obligatoria de los estudiantes de PFO, el diseño de un proyecto de investigación. Luego un curso de metodología de investigación, los estudiantes elaboraron 4 proyectos, con la supervisión de tutores, trabajando en foros virtuales y reuniones presenciales. Los trabajos fueron llevados a campo y en tres de ellos se realizó un análisis estadístico sencillo y se obtuvieron conclusiones que fueron presentadas frente a compañeros de curso, docentes y autoridades. En 2017, luego del curso de metodología de la investigación, los alumnos se dividieron en 10 grupos. Cada grupo desarrolló un proyecto, supervisado por un tutor a través de reuniones presenciales y de un espacio en la plataforma Moodle. También se dictaron charlas sobre “Búsqueda bibliográfica" y “Lenguaje académico en la presentación de trabajos científicos". Los 10 trabajos fueron llevados a campo, se realizó análisis de datos, se elaboraron conclusiones y fueron presentados en una “Jornada de investigación de PFO". Conclusión: Esta experiencia formativa permitió a los estudiantes de la PFO tener la posibilidad de participar en un trabajo de investigación, desarrollando habilidades nuevas. Consideramos que es importante estimular a los estudiantes de medicina a que participen en este tipo de actividades asignando un lugar en distintos espacios curriculares, tiempo, recursos económicos y tutores capacitados para superar las limitaciones actuales.Introduction: It is known, the general concern about the decrease of the number of doctor-researchers. The research allows the development of skills such as bibliographic search, reflective analysis of information and contributes to improve diagnostic and therapeutic skills. Our curriculum includes courses such as epidemiology and biostatistics, which promote the acquisition of skills for the prosecution of a research project, but few are actually executed. Objective: To promote a positive attitude towards research in medical students. Project development: In 2016, it was added the design of a research project as a mandatory activity for PFO students. After a course in research methodology, the students developed four projects, with the supervision of tutors, working in virtual forums and face-to-face meetings. The works were put into practice. In three of them, a simple statistical analysis was carried out and conclusions were obtained and presented to classmates, teachers and authorities. In 2017, after the research methodology course, the students were divided into ten groups, developing ten projects, supervised by a tutor through face-to-face meetings and virtual forums. Lessons about "Bibliographic search" and "Academic language in the presentation of scientific works" were also given. All the proyects were put into practice. Data analysis was carried out, conclusions were drawn up and presented to classmates, teachers and authorities. Conclusion: This formative experience allowed the students of the PFO to participate in a research work, developing new skills. We believe it is important to encourage medical students to participate in this kind of activities assigning a place in the curriculum, time, financial resources and trained tutors to overcome current limitationsFil: Di Lorenzo, Gabriela. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias MédicasFil: Da Costa Marques, Sofía Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y SocialesFil: Echeverría, María Inés. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias MédicasFil: Vega, Israel. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias MédicasFil: Pennisi, Alicia. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias MédicasFil: Carrasco, Norma. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias MédicasFil: Biliato, Luis. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médica