The Role of Flagship Firms, External Actors and Support Institutions in the Emergence of Successful Export Activities in Brazil: Two Industrial Cluster Studies

This paper examines the process by which firms in a cluster start to export based on systemic interactions and the process of diffusion of exporting as a business strategy within the cluster. Two Brazilian manufacturing industries are studied, and within each one a geographic cluster was identified as the origin of dynamic export growth. Players in each industrial cluster, as well as other significant players, were interviewed or identified using secondary sources, and extensive secondary data research was undertaken to study clusters’ historical development. Detailed analysis and a comparison of the two experiences made it possible to draw some general conclusions concerning the similarities and differences between the two clusters in terms of the adoption and diffusion of exporting.Cluster, Exports, Innovation, Brazil

Acessibilidade cognitiva para o letramento de jovens com deficiência intelectual

This paper provides a description of the cognitive accessibility procedures used in the design and development of a virtual learning environment - AVALER - during a constructivisttheory supported research on literacy-enabling practices for young students with intellectual disabilities. Action-research was the chosen methodology. The subjects of the study are two teachers and nine students of a specialized school who carried out activitries characterized as "literacy-enabling practices", with the assistance of communication and information technologies, over a period of ten months. The interest of the students about the proposed activities and the spontaneous attempts to read and write were observed. Students also made associations of ideas and understood texts on "AVALER", conceived from Cognitive Flexibility Theory.Este artículo tiene como objetivo describir los procedimientos destinados a la accesibilidad cognitiva empleados en el diseño y desarrollo de un ambiente virtual de aprendizaje –AVALER- tras una investigación sobre prácticas de alfabetización para estudiantes jóvenes con discapacidad intelectual, basada en la teoría constructivista. Se empleó la metodología de investigación-acción. Durante diez meses se trabajó con dos profesores y nueve estudiantes de una escuela especializada que desarrolló, con la ayuda de técnicas de la comunicación y de la información, actividades caracterizadas como ‘prácticas útiles para alfabetizar’. Como resultado de la investigación se observó el interés de los alumnos por las actividades propuestas y la realización espontánea de intentos de leer y escribir. Los estudiantes también establecieron asociaciones de ideas y comprendieron un texto presentado en AVALER preparado a partir de la Teoría de la Flexibilidad Cognitiva.O presente artigo tem por objetivo descrever os procedimentos voltados para a acessibilidade cognitiva utilizados na concepção e desenvolvimento de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem - AVALER, em uma pesquisa sobre práticas de letramento para jovens com deficiência intelectual fundamentada em teorias construtivistas. A metodologia utilizada no estudo é a pesquisa-ação. Os sujeitos são dois professores e nove alunos de uma escola especializada que realizaram atividades com tecnologias da comunicação e da informação, caracterizadas como “práticas de letramento”, durante dez meses. Como resultados da pesquisa, observou-se o interesse dos alunos pelas atividades propostas e a realização espontânea de tentativas de leitura e escrita. Os estudantes também fizeram associações de ideias e compreenderam os textos apresentados no AVALER, concebido a partir da Teoria da Flexibilidade Cognitiva. 

The Emergence of New and Successful Export Activities in Brazil: Four Case Studies from the Manufacturing and the Agricultural Sector

This paper investigates the emergence of new successful export activities in Brazil through the analysis of four industry case studies: furniture, swimwear, soybeans and grapes. Extensive secondary data research was done to study industries’ historical development and to understand the elements that affect the discovery of new export-oriented activities and their diffusion in the economy. Detailed analysis was carried out to identify the role of public sector in the discovery and diffusion process, if any. Comparison of the four experiences show different models of diffusion and demonstrate how barriers to discovery, spillovers and institutions responses varied dramatically among the cases. The paper tries to extract some general conclusions concerning the role of pioneer firms, external actors and public sector institutions. Some lessons learned are presented aiming to help policymakers to design positive policy interventions in Latin America countries.

Short and long run tests of the expectations hypothesis: the Portuguese case

The purpose of this paper is to test both short- and long-run implications of the (rational) expectations hypothesis of the term structure of interest rates using Portuguese data for the interbank money market. The results support only a very weak, long-run or "asymptotic" version of the hypothesis, and broadly agree with previous (but separate) evidence for other countries. Empirical evidence supports the cointegration of Portuguese rates and the "puzzle" well known in the literature: although its forecasts of future short-term rates are in the correct direction, the spread between longer and shorter rates fails to forecast future longer rates. Further short-run implications of the hypothesis in terms of the predictive ability of the spread are also clearly rejected, even for the more stable period which emerged in the middle nineties.Term structure; Expectations hypothesis; Hypothesis testing; Structural breaks; Portugal

Equilibria in reflexive Banach lattices with a continuum of agents.

We consider exchange economies with a measure space of agents and for which the commodity space is a separable and reflexive Banach lattice. Under assumptions imposing uniform bounds on marginal rates of substitution, positive results on core-Walras equivalence were established in Rustichini-Yannelis [27] and Podczeck [25]. In this paper we prove that under similar assumptions on marginal rates of substitution, the set of competitive equilibria (and thus the core) is non-empty.Competitive equilibria; Continuum of agents; Reflexive Banach lattice commodity spaces; Uniform properness;