Tax reform on the brink of fiscal dominance: a political economy model

With an overindebted public-sector, Brazil has been on the brink of a fiscal dominance problem for quite a long time. The term has been usually associated to a situation in which monetary policy becomes subordinated to fiscal needs. This paper calls attention to broader implications of prolonged exposure to impending fiscal dominance. A highdebt environment may make perfectly reasonable fiscal-reform initiatives seem extremely risky. Without any room to absorb revenue losses, in a complex fiscalfederalism arrangement, the government is bound to recurrently see badly needed tax reform, which could lead to a much less distorting tax system, as an unaffordable adventure. The paper is structured in the following way. The next section presents stylized facts that have been underlying a whole decade of unsuccessful tax-reform attempts in Brazil. Section 3 shows how the combination of those facts creates very unfavorable conditions for the approval of the kind of tax reform the country needs. A simple political economy model is developed in section 4. Simulations based on the model are analyzed in sections 5 and 6. Concluding remarks are presented in the last section.tax reform, public debt, fiscal dominance, political economy, federalism, Brazil

Os retábulos da igreja de São Pedro no Funchal

A freguesia de São Pedro situa-se na baixa da cidade do Funchal. Inicialmente a cidade circunscrevia-se às freguesias de N.ª S.ª do Calhau e da Sé, mas o crescimento social e económico preceituou a sua expansão. O centro da cidade estava mais vocacionado para o comércio, administração e residência de famílias importantes, embora no local onde foi criada a freguesia de São Pedro, residisse o primeiro capitão-donatário do Funchal, João Gonçalves Zarco, e seus descendentes. Em finais do século XVIII importantes famílias funchalenses também residiam em São Pedro, como os Bettencourt, Freitas, Ornelas, Carvalhal. Aquando da criação da freguesia de São Pedro, considerada uma zona dos arredores da cidade, viviam muitas pessoas dedicadas à actividade agrícola e aos ofícios mecânicos (carpinteiros, pedreiros, …), muitos oriundos dos concelhos rurais da Madeira e do Norte de Portugal. A criação da freguesia de São Pedro do Funchal passou por um processo um pouco atribulado. A nova freguesia foi criada por um alvará de Julho de 1566, emitido pelo cardeal infante D. Henrique, regente na menoridade do seu sobrinhoneto, futuro rei D. Sebastião. A freguesia surgiu da partilha da freguesia da Sé. A sua primeira ermida foi dedicada a São Paulo e São Pedro, actualmente denominada São Paulo. A freguesia ocupava a grande parte ocidental da cidade do Funchal e juntava-se às duas existentes de Nossa Senhora do Calhau e da Sé

Genotoxicity biomarkers micronucleus, nucleoplasmic bridges and nuclear buds

The increase of mortality from cancer brought urgency in identification and validation of predictive markers of risk and therefore early diagnosis. There is evidence that cytogenetic biomarkers are positively correlated with risk of cancer, and this is validated by studies of cohort and case-control. Cytokinesis-blocked micronucleus (CBMN) assay is used extensively in molecular epidemiology, and can be considered as a “cytome” assay covering cell proliferation, apoptosis, necrosis and chromosomal changes. The chromosomal alterations most reported and studied by the CBMN are: micronucleus (MN), nucleoplasmic bridges (NPB) and nuclear buds (NBUDS). The use of the MN assay in biomonitoring studies had a large increase in the last 15 years and international projects such as the HUMN have helped to increase the applicability and reliability of these tests

The Brazilian economy from Cardoso to Lula: An interim view

This chapter on the Brazilian economy after 1994 is of a somewhat different nature compared to those on the economy in earlier periods. It is more speculative than its predecessors and based on a more restricted range of bibliographical material, as there is less consolidated research work on the period. It is to stress the obvious that the essay is inevitably marred to a certain degree by the lack of a sufficiently long time perspective. But it was thought that the benefits of providing a provisional account of the more recent economic developments in Brazil far outstripped the costs. The Brazilian economic history from 1995 to 2004 was still dominated by efforts to stabilise the economy. The essay is structured around an analysis of the eventful macroeconomic policies followed during the period. Other aspects are also considered, but often only to allow a clearer picture of the evolution of macroeconomic policies and the constraints they had to face. At first, the main economic policy objective was to consolidate the results of the Real Plan and to make sure that the long high inflation experience was really over. But soon the need to put public accounts under control and to make a sizable external adjustment would become the main challenges to be faced. A major balance of payments crisis in early 1999 imposed much overdue drastic changes in economic policy. Further disturbances occurred in 2002, the last year of Cardoso’s second term, as financial markets reflected fears that economic policy could be reversed with the likely victory of the opposition presidential candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. But, somewhat surprisingly, the new government opted for policies that by and large represented a continuation of the orthodox economic policies of its predecessor. In contrast with the previous fifteen years there was success, in spite of many difficulties. Advance in the stabilisation front required reforms and institutional building efforts that brought very important changes and a sound foundation for future economic expansion. But effective growth performance over the period continued to be mediocre: between 1994 and 2004 per capita GDP (gross domestic product) increased an average of only 0.9 percent yearly. Together with structural fiscal difficulties, low economic growth imposed strict constraints on policies seeking to alleviate the country’s severe social imbalanceseconomic history, stabilization, Brazil

Characterization and modulation of the Renin-Angiotensin System in Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease whose numbers of affected individuals are substantially increasing. Diabetes-associated complications include Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), the main cause of visual impairment and blindness. DR is a progressive pathology affecting the retina, caused by chronic hyperglycaemia. From the several associated risk factors, hypertension has been considered a key player in DR. Renin-Angiotensin System (RAS) is the hormonal cascade responsible for the control of blood pressure. This system can be divided in two main axes: a deleterious one that promotes vasoconstriction, inflammation, angiogenesis and increased oxidative stress and a parallel axis known to counterbalance these effects. Both axes’ components have been identified in the eye and we have shown that the prejudicial axis is modulated by glucose. In this work we aimed to characterize the expression of the RAS protective axis in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells and evaluate the effects of its modulation by glucose and direct renin inhibition. The expression of Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, Angiotensin (1-7) and Mas1 were detected in RPE cells. A decrease in the expression of these components was observed in high glucose conditions, showing a RAS imbalance. These results are supported by the results obtained in the retina of a type 1 diabetic animal, the Ins2Akita mouse. RAS dysregulation triggers DR hallmarks such as oxidative stress and angiogenesis. Thus, RAS blockade can affect DR development and progression. When simulating RAS overactivation, expression of the protective components increased over time, pointing to an initial protective role that needs further investigation. When treating cells with a renin-blocker, aliskiren, decreased levels of Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 and Mas1 were observed, probably caused by the non-formation of angiotensin peptides. Overall our results are indicative of an early effect of the protective arm of RAS in the glucose-induced RAS dysregulation

Os saberes das águas

1º Congresso Internacional Epistemologias do Sul: perspectivas críticas - 7 a 9 de novembro de 2016, realizada pela Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA).Vivemos um tempo de perguntas fortes e respostas fracas. Como alerta Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2009), atravessamos um período de transição paradigmática, que testemunha a crise da hegemonia do modelo sociocultural da modernidade ocidental. Nesse sentido é que perguntas fortes – como o que fazer perante as mudanças climáticas e a crescente escassez de água do planeta, por exemplo – encontra respostas insatisfatórias dentro dos espaços hegemônicos, o que denuncia a urgência do diálogo com as culturas subalternizadas e derrotadas pelo processo colonial