Two-ballot versus plurality rule: an empirical investigation on the number of candidates

Duverger claimed more than 50 years ago that the number of candidates in elections should be a function of electoral rules. Both his “law” and “hypothesis” suggest the number of candidates vying for seats in elections to be tightly linked to characteristics of the electoral process such as its degree of proportionality and the presence of runoffs. Here we test the validity of Duverger’s claim using data from municipal elections in Brazil. Our study differs from others in the field in two important dimensions. First, by using municipal data we avoid the usual problems that plague statistical analysis using cross-country data. Secondly, we have a truly exogenous source of variation due to a change in electoral legislation introduced by the constitutional reform of 1988: simple plurality remained the rule only in municipalities with less than 200,000 voters, and a second-ballot became mandatory for the others above that threshold. This allows for a neat identification strategy using panel data. Our main finding is that elections with runoffs lure greater numbers of candidates in municipalities with sufficiently high levels of heterogeneity.Duverger's law, runoff, heterogeneity

“Upselling,” a Peculiar Financial Practice : An Anthropological Contribution to the Deconstruction of a Case Study

Trabalho de Projecto apresentado para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Antropologia dos Direitos Humanos e Movimentos Sociais.The current financial crisis which erupted in the fall of 2008 makes the practices of finance an important field to research. Anthropological interest in finance has been growing as the “subfield” of Anthropology of Finance demonstrates. In this project it is given a first contribution to the deconstruction of a peculiar financial practice called “upselling.” “Upselling” is a particular and unique method conceived and practiced by an English multinational foreign exchange corporation, which I encountered while residing in Denmark. It is an everyday mandatory practice and its goal is to maximize profit in every transaction done with every single one of its customers, which, furthermore, is not to be spoken of to no one, ever. Having “upselling” as a case study, the analysis and deconstruction of this everyday financial practice is extremely important and revealing for understanding the contemporary neoliberal ideological era. The research in this anthropological project has led to the exploratory hypothesis of considering it a deceitful financial practice

Oi merger with Portugal Telecom: a strategic partnership

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and EconomicsThis work seeks to explain and quantify the synergies resultant from the merger between Portugal Telecom and Oi. The main question we analyze throughout our analysis was whether the merger could bring some advantages that wouldn’t be achieved through the previous industrial alliance and to whom would the merger be more beneficial. Our conclusion was that since it will be impossible to replicate the Meo brand, the synergies should resume to faster cost cutting gains and interest payment savings through a capital increase which will be used to repay debt, besides enjoying a larger scale, accounting for minimal synergies

Milage aprender+ uma app para aprender matemática usando smartphones e tablets

O baixo desempenho dos estudantes na aprendizagem da matemática constitui problema que em alguns países se tem vindo a acentuar nos últimos anos. De acordo com um estudo realizado pelo Departamento de Educação dos EUA, em 2010, as aulas em regime de blended-learning, ou b-learning, apresentam melhores resultados do que as tradicionais aulas presenciais. Por outro lado, observa-se um número crescente de estudantes que usa smartphones e tablets nas escolas, cuja popularidade pode ser aproveitada para estimular a sua utilização em atividades educacionais para melhorar a aprendizagem. Nesta comunicação apresenta-se uma nova aplicação para dispositivos móveis, smartphones e tablets, app MILAGE, através da qual o aluno pode aceder a conteúdos pedagógicos, dentro e fora da sala de aula. De modo a estimular e apoiar a realização das várias atividades propostas, a interface incorpora características de gamificação e recursos multimédia.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Taxation, credit constraints and the informal economy

AbstractThis paper extends Evans and Jovanovic (1989)'s entrepreneurship model to incorporate the informal sector. Specifically, entrepreneurs can operate either in the formal sector – in which they have limited access to credit markets and must pay taxes – or in the informal sector – in which they can avoid paying taxes, but have no access to credit markets. In addition, technology in the informal sector is both less productive and more labor intensive than that in the formal sector. We calibrate the model to the Brazilian economy, and evaluate the impact of credit frictions and taxation on occupational choices, aggregate output and inequality. Removing all distortions can improve aggregate efficiency considerably, largely because this induces entrepreneurs to switch to the formal sector, where the technology is superior. Most of this effect comes from removing credit market frictions, but taxes on formal businesses are also important. The elimination of distortions can also reduce income inequality substantially

The development of an interactive mathematics app for mobile learning

Low achievement in mathematics education has been an increasing problem in the recent years in some countries. According to a 2010 study from the U.S. Department of Education, blended learning classes produce statistically better results than their face-to-face. There is also an increasing number of students using smartphones and tablets in schools. Mobile devices gained popularity as an educational tool and there are many schools that use them frequently in educational activities to improve learning. In this paper, we present the development of an application for smartphones and tablets to provide activities that students can do outside the classroom or at home and increase the time they spend learning and practicing mathematics. With this app students solve mathematic activities and are helped by the presentation of videos with the problems resolutions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impactos das Distorções Tributárias sobre a Determinação da Oferta de Trabalho

Usando um modelo de crescimento neoclássico, Prescott (2004) e Ohanian et alii (2008) explicam com sucesso as diferenças de horas trabalhadas entre países da OCDE. Aplicamos este mesmo modelo para o caso brasileiro entre 1988 e 1998. Nossa principal conclusão é que esta metodologia falha em explicar a experiência brasileira. O modelo prevê, como consequência do aumento de impostos verificado no período, uma queda substancial no número de horas trabalhadas. Entretanto, os dados mostram apenas uma leve queda. Utilizamos, ainda, especificações alternativas para a preferência do agente representativo, as quais tornam a oferta de trabalho menos sensível a impostos. Entretanto, o ajuste aos dados é satisfatório apenas para parâmetros bastante distantes daqueles utilizados pela literatura internacional. Sugerimos que a presença significativa de um setor informal pode explicar a especificidade brasileira.Oferta de trabalho, Tributação