Produtividade Total dos Fatores no Brasil no Período Pós-Reformas

Este trabalho discute o comportamento da produtividadetotal dos fatores (PTF) no Brasil no período de implementação das reformas dosanos 90 e no período que segue as reformas. O exercício mostrou que,considerado todo o período de análise, a produtividade do trabalho foi maisimportante do que a produtividade do capital para explicar a PTF. A conclusãogeral é que, mesmo sem corrigir por mudanças de preços relativos dasconstruções, no período pós-reformas houve uma reversão da trajetóriadeclinante da PTF observada na década de 1980. Também foi possível mostrar queo maior dos ganhos de produtividade veio da melhora da mão de obra, viacapital humano, e do aumento da produtividade na produção de máquinas eequipamentos

PRODUTIVIDADE AGREGADA BRASILEIRA (1970-2000): DECLÍNIO ROBUSTO E FRACA RECUPERAÇÃO

This study explores the productivity performance of the Brazilian economy between 1970 and 1998. We assess how much of the TFP downfall can be explained by some departures from the standard procedure. We incorporate to the standard measure utilization of capacity, changes in the workweek of capital, services of capital from electricity consumption, relative prices distortions, human capital, and investment in specific technology. We conclude that the downfall in productivity is quite robust to those specifications. The only case that presents a marked difference from the standard TFP measure occurs when relative prices of capital are corrected. The implications of this finding are a topic for future research.

Steady State Analysis of an Open Economy General Equilibrium Model for Brazil

The aim of the present research is to build an open economy recursive general equilibrium model for the Brazilian economy in order to numerically assess the corresponding steady state equilibrium. This characterization allows us to numerically compute the endogenously determined steady state key relationship, namely the primary surplus aggregate output as well as the debt-product ratio among other variables, as functions of the monetary and fiscal policy parameters chosen by the government of the model economy. The adopted model introduces a transaction technology, which allows us to obtain a monetary equilibrium at steady state. This economy differs from the one used by Ljungqvist and Sargent (2000) for it considers an open economy with accumulation and production. The main result has shown that under the adopted parameterization the steady state of the model economy can numerically characterized by a debt output ratio of 0.3387. The numerical simulations show alternative steady states attainable by the government of the model economy. In order to finance higher expenses the government is bounded to trade-off higher interest rate (low inflation or high return on real money balances) with low operational surpluses due to the higher debt output ratio at the long run equilibrium.

Política Fiscal, Choques de Oferta e a Expansão Econômica de 2003-2007

This article has two objectives. The first is to show the impact of distortionary taxes during a period of the economic cycle in Brazil. The second is to show that an explanation for output to grow slower than productivity is the increase in taxes on productive factors: capital and labor. To attain these two objectives, we carried out a study comparing the Brazilian economy with simulated data from the neoclassical model of economic growth with and without distortionary taxes. The empirical results show that the model without taxes predicts stronger growth than observed between 2003 and 2007. This point was addressed using the neoclassical growth model with distortionary taxes. However, this model produces a lower output path than observed. Besides this, both models fail to appropriately account for the behavior of the labor market. Este artigo possui dois objetivos. O primeiro é mostrar o impacto de impostos distorcivos sobre um período do ciclo econômico no Brasil. O segundo é mostrar que uma explicação para o crescimento do produto abaixo do crescimento da produtividade seria o aumento dos impostos sobre os fatores produtivos, capital e trabalho. Para atingir estes dois objetivos realizamos um estudo da comparação da economia brasileira com os dados simulados do modelo neoclássico de crescimento econômico com impostos distorcivos. Os resultados empíricos mostraram que o modelo sem impostos prevê crescimento maior do que o observado entre 2003 e 2007. Este ponto foi atacado utilizando o modelo neoclássico de crescimento com impostos distorcivos. Entretanto, este último modelo produz uma trajetória de produto mais baixa do que a observada. Além disso, ambos os modelos falham em contabilizar apropriadamente pelo comportamento do mercado de trabalho

HIV-1 Residual Viremia Correlates with Persistent T-Cell Activation in Poor Immunological Responders to Combination Antiretroviral Therapy

BACKGROUND:The clinical significance and cellular sources of residual human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) production despite suppressive combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) remain unclear and the effect of low-level viremia on T-cell homeostasis is still debated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:We characterized the recently produced residual viruses in the plasma and short-lived blood monocytes of 23 patients with various immunological responses to sustained suppressive cART. We quantified the residual HIV-1 in the plasma below 50 copies/ml, and in the CD14(high) CD16(-) and CD16+ monocyte subsets sorted by flow cytometry, and predicted coreceptor usage by genotyping V3 env sequences. We detected residual viremia in the plasma of 8 of 10 patients with poor CD4+ T-cell reconstitution in response to cART and in only 5 of 13 patients with good CD4+ T-cell reconstitution. CXCR4-using viruses were frequent among the recently produced viruses in the plasma and in the main CD14(high) CD16(-) monocyte subset. Finally, the residual viremia was correlated with persistent CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell activation in patients with poor immune reconstitution. CONCLUSIONS:Low-level viremia could result from the release of archived viruses from cellular reservoirs and/or from ongoing virus replication in some patients. The compartmentalization of the viruses between the plasma and the blood monocytes suggests at least two origins of residual virus production during effective cART. CXCR4-using viruses might be produced preferentially in patients on cART. Our results also suggest that low-level HIV-1 production in some patients may contribute to persistent immune dysfunction despite cART

Female chacma baboons form strong, equitable, and enduring social bonds

Analyses of the pattern of associations, social interactions, coalitions, and aggression among chacma baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus) in the Okavango Delta of Botswana over a 16-year period indicate that adult females form close, equitable, supportive, and enduring social relationships. They show strong and stable preferences for close kin, particularly their own mothers and daughters. Females also form strong attachments to unrelated females who are close to their own age and who are likely to be paternal half-sisters. Although absolute rates of aggression among kin are as high as rates of aggression among nonkin, females are more tolerant of close relatives than they are of others with whom they have comparable amounts of contact. These findings complement previous work which indicates that the strength of social bonds enhances the fitness of females in this population and support findings about the structure and function of social bonds in other primate groups