The Role of Interest Rates in the Brazilian Business Cycle

This paper offers additional insights on the relationship between interest rates and business cycles in Brazil. First, I document that Brazilian interest rates are very volatile, counter-cyclical and positively correlated with net exports, as observed in other emerging economies. Next, I present a dynamic general equilibrium model in which firms face working capital constraints and labor supply is independent of consumption. This parsimonious model, appropriately calibrated to the Brazilian economy, predicts that interest rate shocks can explain about one third of output fluctuations and generates business cycle regularities consistent with the Brazilian data.

Cultivares de milho para silagem: resultados das safras 2003/2004, 2004/2005 e 2005/2006 na Região Sudeste do Brasil.

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Cultivares de milho para silagem - Resultados das safras 2003-2004, 2004-2005 e 2005-2006 nos municípios de Ijuí e Lages da região sul do Brasil.

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Avaliação de cultivares de milho para silagem: resultados do ano agrícola 2006-2007.

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Cultivares de milho para silagem: resultados das safras 2003/2004, 2004/2005 e 2005/2006 na Região Brasil-Central.

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African star grass response to postemergence herbicides.

ABSTRACT Cynodon nlemfuensis Vanderyst, commonly called African star grass, is excellent forage in pasture formation and herd feeding. However, little information is available regarding weed management in areas of star grasses. Two field experiments were carried out in 2017 and 2018 to evaluate the response of African star grass to postemergence herbicides. The treatments applied were as follows: 2,4-D (1,340.0 g ae ha-1); 2,4-D + picloram (720.0 +192.0 g ae ha-1 + 0.3% v/v nonionic surfactant); fluroxypyr + picloram (80.0 + 80.0 g ae ha-1 + 0.3% v/v mineral oil); fluroxypyr + aminopyralid (160.0 + 80.0 g ae ha-1 + 0.3% v/v mineral oil); fluroxypyr + triclopyr (320.0 + 960.0 g ae ha-1 + 0.3% v/v mineral oil); bentazon (720.0 g ai ha-1 + 0.5% v/v mineral oil); imazapyr (25.0 g ai ha-1); monosodium methyl arsenate (MSMA) (1,440.0 g ai ha-1 + 0.1% v/v nonionic surfactant); atrazine + S-metolachlor (1,480.0 + 1,160.0 g ai ha-1); atrazine + tembotrione (1,000.0 + 100.8 g ai ha-1 + 0.3% v/v mineral oil) and a control without herbicide application. The most phytotoxic treatments for the African star grass plants were fluroxypyr + amininopyralid, fluroxypyr + triclopyr and atrazine + tembotrione. The dry matter yield of star grass plants was not reduced by the applications of 2,4-D, 2,4-D + picloram, bentazon, imazapyr, MSMA and atrazine + S-metolachlor. These herbicides can be considered potential practices in African star grass crop management

Monetary and exchange rate policies for the perfect storm: The case of the Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad & Tobago

This study provides a set of tools to analyze the monetary and exchange rate policy issues in the seven countries of the Inter-American Development Bank's Caribbean region (The Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Haiti, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago). It then applies some of them to the analysis of the impact of the global turmoil on these economies in the last quarter of 2008. The paper also discusses, in light of both recent theoretical developments and key aspects of these economies, the monetary and exchange policy responses to the initial phase of the global turmoil

SAMBA: Stochastic Analytical Model with a Bayesian Approach

We develop and estimate a DSGE model for the Brazilian economy, to be used as part of the macroeconomic modeling framework at the Central Bank of Brazil. The model combines the building blocks of standard DSGE models (e.g., price and wage rigidities and adjustment costs) with the following features that better describe the Brazilian economy: (i) a fiscal authority pursuing an explicit target for the primary surplus; (ii) administered or regulated prices as part of consumer prices; (iii) external finance for imports, amplifying the effects of changes in external financial conditions on the economy; and (iv) imported goods used in the production function of differentiated goods. It also includes the presence of financially constrained households. We estimate the model with Bayesian techniques, using data starting in 1999, when inflation targeting was implemented. Model evaluation, based on impulse response functions, moment conditions, variance error decomposition and initial forecasting exercises, suggests that the model can be a useful tool for policy analysis and forecasting.