The monetary system of the Luso-Brazilian Empire: the changing role of the ‘provincial’ : currency in the 17th and 18th centuries

In this research we try to explain the dual character of the monetary system of the Luso-Brazilian Empire brought about by the introduction of a parallel, or complementary, currency in Brazil by the end of the XVII century. The simultaneous circulation of ‘provincial’ and ‘national’ coins can explain why these units of exchange did not act as both store and standard of value. Money had not only a hierarchy character according the value of payments (gold, silver and copper) but also the mint policy varied in the different areas of circulation. This implied that not all these coins were hoarded or obtained the same status on international market. Nevertheless, since the 17th century we have an evolution that we need to recognize and understand. This implied that ‘provincial’ money as a concept had an evolution and other attributes to make this money broadly acceptable as units of exchange. Which are the convergence of mechanisms that explain the emergence and consolidation of a money economy in the Portuguese Empire? We will analyse the monetary relations between Brazil and Portugal and the time span is since the 17th century until the 19th century.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Budgetary restrictions and ethical behaviours in a hospital context : evidence from general surgeons

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study how budgetary constraints can have ethical implications on patient treatment options. Design/methodology/approach – By applying a qualitative methodological approach (interviews) and participant observation, this paper studies the behaviour of surgeons in scenarios of financial restriction. Findings – The empirical findings show that despite the conflict between the economy and the leges artis, surgeons maintain the ethical and deontological principles of their profession with fair rules of orientation. Practical implications – The importance of this study can be realised by its continuity. One of the authors is already implicated on a wider research to investigate the influence of the economic scarcity of resources on general surgeons’ ethical behaviours. Social implications – This paper is a contribution to understanding the rules that restrain the activities of surgeons. Politicians sometimes do not have a full understanding of the pressures that the medical profession faces in their day-to-day activities. Currently, with the addition of problems relate to COVID-19, politicians and populations seem to better understand the importance of the Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS), This paper hopes that this understanding will be not only a conjectural moment. Originality/value – In conjunction with the economic recession that began in the first decade of this century, health institutions have long faced budgetary constraints that condition their material and human resources and correspondingly shape the scope of health professional activities. Until now, it has not been studied the impact of economic crises on the ethical behaviour of Portuguese surgeons. Therefore, this research is a first step and a useful contribution to understanding the rules that can restrain (or not) the ethical conduct of these health professionals.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Production, Supply and Circulation of 'National' Gold Coins in Brazil (1720-1807)

Based on the hypotheses that Brazil was not merely an economy that exported precious metals and that there was a relative expansion of the domestic market, in this paper we assess the production, supply and circulation of ʻnationalʼ gold coins in Brazil in the 18th century. New estimates are provided of the production of these gold coins at the mints of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia and Minas Gerais. Comparing the values of the coinage with remittances to Lisbon, the first half of the 18th century reveals a more stable conjuncture than was found in the second half. This latter period shows fluctuations that were expressed in the faster growth of the supply despite the fall that took place in the production/coinage of gold. Our conclusions question the historiographical theses about the shortage of currency in Brazil throughout the 18th century. The growth of the economy from the last quarter of the century onwards implied an increase in the demand for money, which it proved possible to meet through the production of ʻnationalʼ gold coins.Financial support of CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil. - BES Proc. nº 1670/14-0

A unificação monetária de Portugal (Continente e Ilhas)

O artigo analisa a unificação monetária de Portugal (Continente e Ilhas) concretizada entre 1879 (Madeira) e 1931 (Açores). Num primeiro momento, analisa-se o quadro monetário das ilhas, onde dominava na circulação a moeda estrangeira e a moeda insulana ou moeda fraca, enquanto moeda com ágio em relação à moeda continental. A fraca integração do espaço económico insular com o espaço económico continental justificará estas características. As propostas de integração monetária apresentadas no século XIX serão analisadas num segundo momento. Portugal confrontou-se com conflitos de interesses na unificação do sistema monetário com o espaço insular. Um longo século mediou entre a alteração do estatuto administrativo e a integração monetária portuguesa. Mas, Madeira e Açores também tiveram percursos diferentes. Se no primeiro dos espaços insulares a oposição às propostas de integração não se fizeram sentir, nos Açores os ecos da oposição no parlamento adiaram a integração para 1931. Compreender os interesses que protelaram a união monetária será um dos objectivos deste artigo, o que corresponde a explicar porque data de 1931 a integração monetária de Portugal

Alterações das práticas contabilísticas na Casa da Moeda de Lisboa no Séc. XVIII

Em Portugal, tal como em Castela, as necessidades financeiras do Estado justificaram a introdução de inovações contabilísticas, apesar de haver desfasamentos temporais na difusão destas inovações pelos diversos organismos públicos. A Casa da Moeda de Lisboa, propriedade régia, alterou também as suas práticas contabilísticas, embora a transição do método das partidas simples para o das partidas dobradas se tivesse realizado de forma relativamente lenta. O artigo encontra-se estruturado em duas partes. Numa primeira questiona-se de forma breve a aplicação da contabilidade por partidas dobradas na esfera pública e na esfera privada. Na segunda parte, estudam-se as principais características da organização contabilística espelhada nos Livros de Tesoureiro, existentes no Arquivo da Casa da Moeda de Lisboa. Demonstra-se que a necessidade de centralização e supervisão sobre as receitas arrecadadas moldou as características da contabilidade aplicada a partir de 1773.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Inovações contabilísticas e eficácia fiscal

Uma linha de investigação relativamente recente tem procurado reescrever a história dos Estados modernos através das formas de controlo financeiro. Renunciando a uma explicação apenas ancorada no progresso das técnicas contabilísticas, confere-se destaque ao processo de escolha das técnicas relevando o seu carácter estratégico e os grupos de interesse envolvidos. Trata-se de questionar o que deve ser controlado e a quem interessa (ou não) esse controlo. Daí se infere a explicação para o avanço e recuo na utilização de métodos contabilísticos. Em Portugal a reforma da contabilidade pública pautou o magistério pombalino, escolhendo-se um modelo de centralização como forma de aumentar a eficiência fiscal e administrativa. A criação do Erário Régio (1761) consubstancia esse plano. As medidas implementadas do lado das receitas que contemplaram, entre outras, a fiscalidade sobre o ouro, a reforma da décima e medidas contra o contrabando, implicaram novas configurações de registo, especialização de funções e especialização orgânica. O objetivo será questionar este elo entre reforma contabilística e fiscalidade numa época em que as receitas patrimoniais ainda tinham um peso significativo na estrutura das receitas públicas do Estado português. Assegurar a boa arrecadação de receitas fundamentais implicava um controlo da gestão financeira das entidades responsáveis por essa coleta. Interrogue-se então, o modelo de contabilidade pública em Portugal e confronte-se com o de algumas experiências europeias.“Accounting Innovations and Fiscal Efficiency” - A recent line of research tried to rewrite the history of modern States through forms of financial control. Renouncing to the explanation only centred in the progress of the accounting methods, it gives prominence to the process of choosing the techniques emphasizing its strategic dimension and interest groups involved. The questions are what should be controlled and who is interested (or not) in that control. This explains the advance and retreat in the use of accounting procedures in the long run. In Portugal, the Pombaline reforms of public accounting, choose a centralized model in order to increase fiscal and administrative efficiency. The creation of the Royal Treasury (1761) was the main feature of this plan. Measures implemented on the revenue side included, among others, taxation on gold, the reform of the tenth and measures against smuggling. It involved also new settings registration, specialization of functions and organizational expertise. The goal will be to enquiry this link between accounting and taxation reform in a period when the patrimonial revenues had a significant weight in the structure of public revenues of the Portuguese State. Ensure the correct collection of revenue involved a fundamental control of the financial management of the entities responsible for this collection. The final target is to explain the public accounting model in Portugal and compare with others European experiences.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Alterações das práticas contabilísticas na Casa da Moeda de Lisboa, no século XVIII

En este artículo se explica el cambio de prácticas contables en la Casa da Moeda de Lisboa encuadrándolas en la política de difusión de la contabilidad por partida doble en el ámbito público en Portugal durante la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII

Echoes from the past : portuguese stabilization of the 1890s and 1920s

In the early decades of the contemporary world economy, Portugal had to perform twice difficult stabilization processes: during the 1890s as a consequence of the collapse of external and public debt payments, and during the 1920s in the wake of the First World War. This paper will analyse these Portuguese situations: the 1890s stabilization based on leaving the gold standard monetary system and on partial default of the external public debt payments led to a period of economic stagnation, which lasted until the First World War, in spite of the good international background provided by the so called belle époque; the 1920s stabilization based on a very tough fiscal adjustment opened the way to an interwar period of slight growth , in spite of the unfavourable international background provided by the problems of the 1920s and the Great Depression during the 1930s (although it was not enough to sustain the liberal republican regime, which was replaced by a military dictatorship, and later an authoritarian right-wing regime)

Minimization of the network availability upgrade cost with geodiverse routing for disaster resilience

Telecommunication networks are a critical infrastructure of our society. Wide area backbone communication networks are based on optical networks, where each fiber has a very large capacity. These networks must offer high end-to-end availability and a high resilience to large-scale disasters. Routing with geodiversity can mitigate the impact of disasters but will result in longer paths, making it difficult to achieve the availability levels required by critical services. In this paper, we consider a given core optical network such that the current availability and the cost of upgrading it to a higher value are known for each network link (or edge). Then, the problem of selecting a set of edges to be upgraded at a minimum cost, while guaranteeing desired values of end-to-end availability and geodiversity, is considered and formulated as an arc based integer non-linear programming model. The non-linear constraints of the model are approximated and linearized, resulting in a new ILP based heuristic. A filtering procedure is proposed for decreasing (if possible) the cost and the number of upgraded edges of the solutions obtained by previously proposed greedy heuristics and also by the ILP based heuristic. The relative performance of the heuristics is evaluated using different geodiverse distances and end-to-end availability values in two reference core optical networks.publishe