Enforcement of Labour Regulation and the Labour Market Effects of Trade: Evidence from Brazil

How does enforcement of labour regulations shape the labour market effects of trade? We combine local economic shocks generated by the unilateral trade liberalisation in Brazil and enforcement variation across regions to show that regions with stricter enforcement observed: (i) lower informality; (ii) larger losses in overall employment; (iii) greater reductions in the number of formal plants. Regions with weaker enforcement experienced opposite effects. All these effects are concentrated on low-skill workers. Our results indicate that greater flexibility introduced by informality allows both formal firms and low-skill workers to cope better with adverse labour market shocks

Stochastic simulations for the time evolution of systems which obey generalized statistics: Fractional exclusion statistics and Gentile's statistics

We present a stochastic method for the simulation of the time evolution in systems which obey generalized statistics, namely fractional exclusion statistics and Gentile's statistics. The transition rates are derived in the framework of canonical ensembles. This approach introduces a tool for describing interacting fermionic and bosonic systems in non-equilibrium as ideal FES systems, in a computationally efficient manner. The two types of statistics are analyzed comparatively, indicating their intrinsic thermodynamic differences and revealing key aspects related to the species size.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, IOP forma

Bolsa Família: um survey sobre os efeitos do programa de transferência de renda condicionada do Brasil

Revisam-se pesquisas sobre efeitos do Programa Bolsa Família. Há quatro evidências frequentes. A primeira é que o programa tem focalização relativamente boa, mas que pode ainda ser melhorada. A segunda é o efeito positivo sobre a aquisição (consumo) de alimentos – sem conclusões sobre a qualidade da dieta. A terceira diz respeito ao estimulo às crianças a participarem da escola (matrícula, frequência e progressão), embora pouco se saiba sobre os efeitos na aprendizagem. A ausência de efeitos sobre a fecundidade das mulheres caracteriza a quarta conclusão robusta que se pode tirar da literatura, ainda que mais estudos devam ser realizados. Em outras dimensões, as evidências não formam consenso sobre direção dos efeitos.This paper surveys the literature about the effects of Bolsa Familia Program. We found four main results. The first is that the program is relatively well targeted, but it can still be improved.The second is the positive effect on the acquisition (consumption) of food, but there is no conclusions about the quality of the diet. The third is that the program encourages children to attend school (enrollment, attendance and progression). However, little is known about the effects on learning. The absence of effects on the fecundity of the women characterizes the fourth conclusion that can be drawn from the literature, although more studies must be carried out on this topic. In other dimensions, the evidence does not form consensus on the direction of effects

Empirically probing the quantity–quality model

This paper estimates the causal effects of family size on girls’ education in Mexico, exploiting prenatal son preference as a source of random variation in the propensity to have more children within an Instrumental Variables framework. It finds no evidence of family size having an adverse effect on education. The paper then weakens the identification assumption and allows for the possibility that the instrument is invalid. It finds that the effects of family size on girls’ schooling remain extremely modest at most. Families that are relatively large compensate for reduced per child resources by increasing maternal labour supply