Moeda Única no Mercosul: Uma Análise da Simetria a Choques para o Período 1995-2007

A integração monetária e financeira está de volta à agenda no Mercosul. Novos mecanismos de cooperação têm sido criados, tais como o Fundo Estrutural de Convergência (2006), o Banco do Sul (2007) e a possibilidade da utilização de pesos argentinos e reais brasileiros para a liquidação de transações internacionais. Neste novo contexto, o presente artigo avalia o potencial para uma maior integração monetária na região, considerando a entrada da Venezuela. São utilizados modelos VAR-VEC e análises impulso-resposta para avaliar a possibilidade da unificação monetária na região. Os resultados obtidos revelam uma assimetria a choques externos entre os países do Mercosul. Por decorrência, tentativas de se estabelecer uma moeda única esbarrariam em importantes dificuldades de coordenação e convergência macroeconômica.Integração Monetária, Moeda Única, Mercosul

To Share or Not to Share: Investigating the Social Aspects of Dynamic Ridesharing

Transportation network companies (TNCs) have introduced shared-ride versions of their ordinary services, such as UberPool or Lyft Line. The concept is simple: passengers pay less in fares for an incremental increase in time spent picking up and dropping off other riders. This paper focuses on the social and behavioral considerations of shared rides, which have not been explored as thoroughly as time and cost trade-offs in transportation. A survey of TNC users conducted through Mechanical Turk in June and July of 2016, which had 997 respondents across the United States, found that (a) users of dynamic ridesharing services reported that social interactions were relevant to mode choice, although not as much as traditional factors such as time and cost; (b) overall, the possibility of having a negative social interaction was more of a deterrent to use of dynamic ridesharing than the potential of having a positive social interaction was an incentive; (c) there was evidence that a substantial number of riders harbored feelings of prejudice toward passengers of different social class and race, and these passengers were much more likely to prefer having more information about potential future passengers; (d) most dynamic ridesharing users were motivated by ease and speed, compared with walking and public transportation; and (e) safety in dynamic ridesharing was an important issue, especially for women, many of whom reported feeling unsafe and preferred to be matched with passengers of the same sex

Negociações coletivas na indústria de transformação do Rio Grande do Sul, 1996-2003

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Rising Costs of Transit and Baumol’s Cost Disease

This paper describes analysis of whether the public transit sector suffers from Baumol’s cost disease. The evolution of labor productivity and average labor costs across transit agencies in the United States was assessed compared with other industries. It was found that (a) labor productivity in the transit sector was mostly stagnant over the period 1997 to 2013, more so in bus operations than in rail operations (0.0% and 0.7% average labor productivity growth rates, respectively), and even more so when output was measured as vehicle revenue miles rather than as passenger miles traveled; (b) the transit sector was highly labor-intensive, because it represented on average 64% of total costs (operating and capital) for bus and 40% for rail; (c) compensation per employee rose at a faster pace than inflation in 85% of the agencies analyzed; and (d) compensation per employee rose at a faster pace than the average local wage rate in 65% of the agencies analyzed. These findings support the hypothesis that not only does the transit sector suffer from Baumol’s cost disease but also that additional factors contribute to spiraling labor costs. Although no antidote to the disease is clear, policy makers should recognize that, as the economy becomes more productive overall, it can continue to support growing levels of transit service in recognition of the growing external benefits, despite the sector’s inherently stagnant productivity growth

Worse than Baumol\u27s disease: The implications of labor productivity, contracting out, and unionization on transit operation costs

Unit costs measured as bus operating costs per vehicle mile have increased considerably above the inflation rate in recent decades in most transit agencies in the United States. This paper examines the impact of (lack of) productivity growth, union bargaining power, and contracting out on cost escalation. We draw from a 17-year (1997–2014) and a 415-bus transit agency panel with 5780 observations by type of operation (directly operated by the agency or contracted out). We have three main findings: first, the unit cost increase in the transit sector is far worse than what economic theory predicts for industries with low productivity growth. Second, contracting out tends to reduce unit costs, and the results suggest that the costs savings from private operations can be only partly explained by lower wages in the private sector. Interestingly, we find that the cost savings from contracting out are larger when the transit agency also directly operates part of the total transit service. However, while overall unit costs are lower in contracted services, cost growth in large private bus operators is no different than cost growth in large public transit operators. Third, unique transit labor laws that lead to union bargaining power are a likely driver of the unit cost growth above inflation. Overall, these factors reflect inherent characteristics of the bus transit sector, such as the nature of low productivity growth and union legislative power related to the need for public subsidy. They drive increases in both transit fares and public subsidy at rates higher than inflation, and play an important role in the deterioration of transit agencies’ financial sustainability

Inovação em agronegócios : a percepção dos diferentes elos da produção

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Estratégias de configuração na Cooperativa Languiru

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