THE DETERMINANTS OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The objective of this study is to shed light on the determinants of foreign direct investiment (FDI) in developing countries. In order to undertake it, we performe a econometric model based in panel data analysis for 38 developing countries (including transition economies) for the 1975-2000 period. Among the major conclusions we have that the FDI is correlated to level of schooling, economy's degree of openness, risk and variables related to macroeconomic performance like inflation, risk and average rate of economic growth. The results also show that the FDI has been closely associated with stock market performance. Lastly, a causality test between FDI and GDP is performed. There is evidence of the existence of causality in sense that GDP leading to FDI, but not vice versa.

Mcdonaldization in journalism, the spectacularization of the news

O conceito de mcdonaldização, proposto neste trabalho, se baseia nos princípios da homogeneidade e da velocidade aplicados ao processo jornalístico, notadamente o jornalismo digital. Isso resulta em textos estandardizados, pasteurizados, superfciais, sem aprofundamento, culminando naquilo que denominamos jornalismo binário. O jornalismo binário seria o jornalismo reduzido à sua mínima essência, sem o cui- dado de “ouvir o outro lado” ou de conferir as fontes. Temos, assim, duas hipóteses: 1) a mcdonaldização é um fenômeno que incide sobre o jornalismo e afeta as notícias; e 2) o jornalismo binário é conseqüência, levando a um produto de menor qualidade. Paralelamente, tecemos o argumento de que a espetacularização seria um recurso que encontra no jornalismo digital (mcdonaldizado) as condições para sua inserção no mundo das notícias. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThe mcdonaldization concept is based on the homogeneity and velocity principles applied into a journalistic process, mainly the digital one. Its results are a kind of standardized, ‘pasteurized’, superfcial texts, without depth; what we call ‘binary journalism’. ‘Binary journalism’ is the journalism reduced to its minimum essence, that is, a journalism made without listening to “the other side” and without checking. We have two hypotheses: 1) the mcdonaldization is a phenomenon that affects the journalism and the news themselves; and 2) binary journalism as a consequence leads to lesser quality products. Besides, we also argue that spectacularization is a resource that meets the conditions to be inserted in the news’ feld, in digital (‘mcdonaldized’) journalism

News values in news websites : an empirical study of the criteria of newsworthiness in Argentina and Brazil

In the theoretical approach to newsmaking we have on the one hand the organisation of the work of the newsroom and on the other, professional culture. Together, these two components determine the nature of the news-product and the conditions in which it is put together. The criteria for selecting newsworthy facts, known as criteria of newsworthiness or news values, consist of a group of elements by which the information apparatus deals with the superabundance of information that, in all kinds of ways, pours into the journalistic environment every day. If they are analysed as an organisational whole, news values can be seen as a logical framework that explains aspects of the production situation in newsrooms. In this article we intend to demonstrate how criteria of newsworthiness work in two news sites: uol.com.br and clarin.com. Based on an empirical study of the electronic pages, we hope to find some common points which will illustrate the process of selecting news in the digital information environment

Ex-Convicts Face Multiple Labor Market Punishments: Estimates of Peer-Group and Stigma Effects Using Equations of Returns to Schooling

We produced a data set from a survey of a population of convicts in probation. We combined this new data set with an official data set from the Brazilian government to study labor market discrimination faced by ex-convicts. We were interested in estimating two potential effects of discrimination, statistical (stigma) and behavioral (peer-group) effects. Our econometric results suggest that stigmatization leads to a 39% reduction in the wage earned by ex-convicts relative to the wage earned by non-convicts. They also suggest that the peer-group effect accounts for a reduction in the relative earnings of ex-convicts of 1.1% per year of study. In addition, we also show that ex-convicts earn 3.1% less per year of experience than non-convicts.Stigma Effect, Peer Effect, Crime Rate, Returns to Schooling, Wage Discrimination

Exchange Market Pressure in African Lusophone Countries

This paper explores the credibility of exchange rate arrangements for the five African Portuguese-speaking (PALOP) countries. Our working hypothesis is that credibility necessarily implies low mean exchange market pressure (EMP), low EMP conditional volatility and low-severity EMP crises. In addition, economic fundamentals must account for EMP dynamics. We also seek evidence of a risk-return relationship for mean EMP and of “bad news” (negative shocks) having a greater impact on EMP volatility than “good news” (positive shocks). Using our econometric models, we are able to rank PALOP countries’ conditional volatility in ordinal terms. Our main conclusion is that countries with currency pegs, such as Guinea-Bissau (GB) and Cape Verde (CV), clearly have lower volatility when compared to those with managed floats and are therefore more credible. Moreover, EMP crises episodes under pegs are much less severe. We find that economic fundamentals correctly account for mean EMP in all countries and that the risk-return relationship is much more favourable for investors under currency pegs, as the increase in volatility is lower for the same rate of return. The exception to this finding is Mozambique (MOZ), which apparently has a risk-return profile akin to that enjoyed by countries with pegs. A plausible reason is that MOZ has the only managed float in our sample implementing monetary and exchange rate policy within the confines of an IMF framework, which establishes floors for international reserves and ceilings for the central bank’s net domestic assets. This intuition needs to be tested, however. EMP conditional volatility is generally driven by changes in domestic credit (lowers it) and foreign reserve changes (raises it). The first effect is more pronounced under currency pegs, but also under MOZ’s managed float. “Bad news” increases volatility more that “good news” only in the case of CV’s currency peg, which we take to be another sign of its credibility. A few striking cross-country comparisons also emerge in our analysis. Among countries with managed floats, we find that Angola (ANG) has the most severe EMP crises whilst MOZ has the least severe. São Tomé & Princípe (STP), meanwhile, lies between these two extremes but its EMP crises behaviour is clearly much closer to that of MOZ. STP’s credibility may also be improving since its volatility has declined as of 2002 and its level is now much closer to that of MOZ, whose managed float has lowest volatility of such arrangements.

Políticas sociais e luta de classes: uma crítica a Amartya Sen = Social policies and the class struggle: criticizing Amartya Sen

O artigo desenvolve o argumento de que as políticas econômicas e sociais adotadas pelo Banco Mundial, tal como desenvolvida por Amartya Sen, não resolvem o problema da pobreza dos países subdesenvolvidos. Os pressupostos dessa teoria e as condições de vida das populações envolvidas acabam por justificar moralmente tais políticas, não se constituindo numa alternativa verdadeira de políticas sociais. Além disso, reproduz-se uma opção ideológica e política que desconhece a exploração capitalista e suas principais características. A alternativa marxista coloca-se, portanto, como uma alternativa de interpretaçã

Fake News Explosion in Portugal and Brazil the Pandemic and Journalists’ Testimonies on Disinformation

Orchestrated manipulations spread lies and can create an environment of uncertainty in society, leading to concerns from politicians, scholars, educators, and journalists, among others. In this paper we explore what the emergence of fake news (understood as false news) represents for journalists, trying to answer the following question: Does false news pose a threat to the credibility of good journalism, causing a disruption of the traditional work? To answer it, we interviewed a sample of journalists from various media organizations in Portugal and Brazil. Among the main findings, journalists are aware that fake news is a problem to be faced, as the blame for the dissemination of false news erroneously lies with the profession. They are conscious that something must be done and agree that the best way to fight against fake news is to invest in media literacy. Most of the journalists of our sample think they must be also more cautious to check sources for veracity and for political motivations. The results show that there is a resolve to reinforce the role of journalism in societyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Engaging students to learn forecasting methods

Presently, higher education institutions are faced with the challenge of developing student’s abilities and skills needed in their future workplace. In what concerns technological skills, the use of spreadsheets for calculations, analysis of data and forecasting is a common and important practice in companies. Particularly, the MS Excel software is widely used by professionals from all fields. In this sense, Economic, Business and Marketing graduates need competencies in forecasting methods, extremely useful for decision-making processes. It thus becomes imperative to implement pedagogical practices to encourage students to use these technological tools. The later will promote the development of competencies in forecasting methods to solve future real problems. In this paper, we attempt to address these issues by analysing the MS Excel software capabilities as a teaching tool in a forecasting methods course. It was proposed to the students to carry out a learning project involving statistical concepts, namely linear regression, performed in MS Excel. We examine the performance and engagement of two samples of students with different backgrounds and from distinct realities. One group is composed of ERASMUS’ students from several nationalities and fields of study and other group consists of Portuguese students of the Marketing Bachelor degree, both enrolled in an optional course of the bachelor degree in Marketing taught at Porto Accounting and Business School from Polytechnic of Porto. The effectiveness of this approach is shown through the analysis of results of students’ projects. We verify that students in both groups achieved the task proposed goals and applied appropriately the required concepts in an engaged way.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio