Possible regional impacts of agricultural trade liberalization in Brazil: some insights based on the estimation of soybean supply function

An important debate exists on whether soybean expansion in Brazil is responsible for putting more pressure on the Amazon forest or if it allows land use intensification through the recuperation of degraded pasture. In this paper, we estimate regional soybean supply own and cross price elasticity in order to better assess the possible impacts of agricultural trade liberalization in old and new soybean production basins. Applying a panel data estimation technique, we find large substitution supply elasticity between soybean and beef in Brazil Moreover, own price elasticity of soybean supply is much higher in Cerrados regions that in the South of the country. These results allow to discuss possible regional consequences of soybean trade liberalization on the Amazon forest. The current movements to promote sustainable and responsible soybean production in Brazil could certainly modify the future response of the sector to trade liberalization and its long term impacts.International Relations/Trade,

Peers , Bullying and School Performance: Exploring the Role of Friendships

Evidence in studies from different fields point to the harmfulness of being bullied on indicators of success in an individual s life Aiming to measure and understand the impact of this inherently social event this paper investigates how the friendships of lower secondary education students in the city of Recife influence their likelihood of being victims of such a phenomenon and its effect on the academic performance of these students The two-stage least squares method is applied to an IV-SLX model using indirect friendship ties as an instrument and significant results are found at 95 confidence increasing the chances of being victimized by bullying by 10 on average reduces the Portuguese language score by 2 33 and the math score by 2 7

Wage differentials by firm size: the efficiency wage test in a developing country

Usando dados da Pesquisa Mensal de Emprego (PME/ IBGE) para os anos de 2006 e2007, este artigo investiga se a diferença de salários por tamanho de firma no Brasilpode ser explicada pela Teoria do Salário Eficiência. Estimações de Switching Regressionsão utilizadas para verificar se as empresas de grande porte pagam um prêmio salarialmaior aos seus funcionários por esforço despendido, comparativamente às pequenasempresas. Os resultados corroboram as predições do Salário Eficiência, uma vez querevelam uma relação positiva entre salário e esforço laboral e também entre escolaridadee duração no posto de trabalho. No entanto, esses resultados não são suficientespara explicar o diferencial de salários existente entre grandes e pequenas empresas nomercado de trabalho brasileiro.Using data from the Brazilian Labor Monthly Survey (PME/ IBGE) for the years of 2006 and 2007, the paper investigates if the wage differential by firm size in a developing country, such as Brazil, can be explained by the predictions of the Efficiency Wage Theory. It is adopted a Switching Regression Model to estimate if large size companies pay a higher wage premium for dispended labor effort, as compared to smaller enterprises. The results prove the EW predictions since they evidence positive relationships between wages and labor effort, schooling and longer job duration. However, such findings are not sufficient to explain the existence of wage differentials by firm size in the Brazilian labor market

A Abertura Comercial e a Volatilidade da Produção Industrial do Brasil no Período 1996/2008

This paper aims to examine the effects of trade openness on the output volatility in different sectors of manufacturing industry between 1996 and 2008. To do so, we use data of 18 sectors for 13 years, estimating an econometric model using a panel dataset by GMM. The results show that the process of trade liberalization has increased the output volatility for the industrial sectors of manufacturing industry, suggesting that the way the process was conducted caused structural damage to the manufacturing industry.Abertura Comercial, Volatilidade do Produto, Volatilidade das Exportações, Indústria de Transformação, Dados em Painel

Demanda por produtos alimentares nas áreas rurais e urbanas do Brasil

This study estimates demand elasticities for staple foods in Brazil taking into account the differences in demand behaviour across urban and rural areas. We analyze microdata from 2002/2003 household expenditure survey (POF), conducted by IBGE. The methodology adopted in demand estimation is based on the Linear Almost Ideal Demand System (LA/AIDS). The results will give us a better understanding of the disparities of the consumption patterns across rural and urban areas in Brazil and provide useful tools in the improvement of public policy related issues