Fiscal Policy and the Labour Market: The Effects of Public Sector Employment and Wages

I build a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with search and matching frictions and two sectors in order to study the labour market effects of public sector employment and wages. Public sector wages plays an important role in achieving the efficient allocation. High wages induce too many unemployed to queue for public sector jobs, while if they are low, the government faces recruitment problems. The optimal steady-state wage premium depends mainly on the labour market friction parameters. In response to technology shocks, it is optimal to have procyclical public sector wages. Deviations from the optimal policy can increase the volatility of unemployment significantly. Public sector wage and employment shocks have mixed effects on unemployment. A wage shock raises the unemployment rate, while a reduction in the separations lowers it. Hiring more people can increase or decrease the unemployment rate. All shocks raise the wage and crowd out employment in the private sector. In the empirical part, I employ Bayesian methods to estimate the parameters of the model for the United States. I find that the direct search mechanism between the two sectors is an important element to explain business cycle fluctuations of the labour market variables.public sector employment, public sector wages, unemployment, fiscal shocks

Interactions between Private and Public Sector Wages

We examine the interactions between public and private sector wages per employee in OECD countries. The growth of public sector wages and of public sector employment positively affects the growth of private sector wages. Moreover, total factor productivity, the unemployment rate and the degree of urbanisation are also important determinants of private sector wage growth. With respect to public sector wage growth, we find that it is influenced by fiscal conditions in addition to private sector wages. We then set up a dynamic labour market equilibrium model with two sectors, search and matching frictions and exogenous growth to understand the interaction mechanisms. The model is quantitative consistent with the main estimation findings.public sector wages, private sector wages, employment, fiscal policy

Convergent types for shared memory

Dissertação de mestrado em Computer ScienceIt is well-known that consistency in shared memory concurrent programming comes with the price of degrading performance and scalability. Some of the existing solutions to this problem end up with high-level complexity and are not programmer friendly. We present a simple and well-defined approach to obtain relevant results for shared memory environments through relaxing synchronization. For that, we will look into Mergeable Data Types, data structures analogous to Conflict-Free Replicated Data Types but designed to perform in shared memory. CRDTs were the first formal approach engaging a solid theoretical study about eventual consistency on distributed systems, answering the CAP Theorem problem and providing high-availability. With CRDTs, updates are unsynchronized, and replicas eventually converge to a correct common state. However, CRDTs are not designed to perform in shared memory. In large-scale distributed systems the merge cost is negligible when compared to network mediated synchronization. Therefore, we have migrated the concept by developing the already existent Mergeable Data Types through formally defining a programming model that we named Global-Local View. Furthermore, we have created a portfolio of MDTs and demonstrated that in the appropriated scenarios we can largely benefit from the model.É bem sabido que para garantir coerência em programas concorrentes num ambiente de memória partilhada sacrifica-se performance e escalabilidade. Alguns dos métodos existentes para garantirem resultados significativos introduzem uma elevada complexidade e não são práticos. O nosso objetivo é o de garantir uma abordagem simples e bem definida de alcançar resultados notáveis em ambientes de memória partilhada, quando comparados com os métodos existentes, relaxando a coerência. Para tal, vamos analisar o conceito de Mergeable Data Type, estruturas análogas aos Conflict-Free Replicated Data Types mas concebidas para memória partilhada. CRDTs foram a primeira abordagem a desenvolver um estudo formal sobre eventual consistency, respondendo ao problema descrito no CAP Theorem e garantindo elevada disponibilidade. Com CRDTs os updates não são síncronos e as réplicas convergem eventualmente para um estado correto e comum. No entanto, não foram concebidos para atuar em memória partilhada. Em sistemas distribuídos de larga escala o custo da operação de merge é negligenciável quando comparado com a sincronização global. Portanto, migramos o conceito desenvolvendo os já existentes Mergeable Data Type através da criação de uma formalização de um modelo de programação ao qual chamamos de Global-Local View. Além do mais, criamos um portfolio de MDTs e demonstramos que nos cenários apropriados podemos beneficiar largamente do modelo

Paradigm shift in the automotive market: how will premium brands deal with the innumerous challenges they will face? Current strategy overview

This work project focuses on the analysis of the automotive industry, more specifically, the premium segment. This assessment includes, not only the current outlook of the market, but also the future challenges that the industry will face. The motivation for this research lies in the key point in time which the market is, and in figuring out how brands can keep up with the revolutionary technological changes and challenges. Although the premium sector may seem a specific piece of the automotive industry, it appears like the one that not only can push forward the premium segment needs and desires but also the one that can better surpass future technological drivers and challenges and, in the end, influence the market as a whole.The automotive industry faces an unprecedented transformation, as such, there is the need to look at the current strategies, anticipate future changes, and elaborate a new strategy able to accommodate all challenges. The trends covered range from new engines to autonomous driving, connectivity, and new mobility solutions. In order to understand the current panorama and the main challenges the industry faces, the group started by conducting intensive secondary data research as well as expert interviews. The final goal of the Work Project is to develop a set of recommendations for premium brands to stay relevant in this industry

Dynamic auto configuration and self-management of next generation personal area networks

Estágio realizado no INESC-Porto e orientado pelo Eng.º Rui Lopes CamposTese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200