This work focuses on the phenomenon of the international oil trade in dollars, exploring its
historical origins and the underlying theoretical foundations of monetary hegemony that
influence the reinvestment of crude oil export revenues denominated in dollars. The post-
Bretton Woods period is examined meticulously, signaling the closure of the post-World War
II monetary system, while the agreements of 1973-76 outline impactful changes in the global
economic order. The literature review extends to the role of the United States in post-1973
negotiations with Saudi Arabia, highlighting the significance of these agreements in the
accumulation of dollar surpluses. Additionally, the Accumulation Cycles of Petrodollars in
OPEC and GCC are explored, emphasizing the First Cycle (1973-1980), the Second Cycle
(2000-2014), and the contemporary Third Cycle, revealing nuances of the deepening
financialization of markets. It is noteworthy that the Third Cycle stands out for a more
diversified approach in surplus allocation, with sovereign wealth funds, such as the Saudi PIF,
adopting agile and "hyper-financialized" strategies. The research provides a concrete analysis
of the financial architecture and economic strategies of oil-producing countries, contextualizing
the historical evolution of recycling mechanisms. Furthermore, it highlights these countries'
adaptation to bolder approaches to optimize returns on investment, influenced by changes in
global financial paradigms and technological advances. The dissertation underscores the
complex interaction between economic policies, reserve management, and the application of
oil revenues by Sovereign Wealth Funds, revealing their political influence and impact on the
global economy. The conclusion emphasizes the crucial relevance of the study by focusing on
political interests in oil market decisions, essential to understanding the maintenance of the
dollar's hegemony in the post-Bretton Woods era.

The objective of this research was to identify and analyze the main determinants of the spatial distribution of doctors in the State of Bahia. The equitable spatial distribution of doctors, professionals who are important direct providers of health services, appears as an important factor associated with the notion of equity of access in health systems. However, what has been observed is a great inequality in the geographical distribution of doctors in Brazil and around the world, which has given rise to broad debates on the topic. In this sense, the literature points out that the main motivational factors that reflect the concentration of doctors in certain regions are linked, mainly, to personal, professional and remuneration reasons. Thus, based on data referring to the years 2010 and 2022, an Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (AEDE) was carried out, having verified that the medical indicator per thousand inhabitants, and some factors that reflect on its agglomeration, are autocorrelated in the Bahian municipalities. Subsequently, a spatial analysis was carried out on cross-section data, using the Durbin spatial model (SDM), based on the database referring to the 417 municipalities in the State of Bahia, observed in 2010. The results indicated that the amount of hospital equipments, hospital beds, population, per capita income and medical schools were the main determinants of the distribution of doctors in the Bahian territory

This dissertation consists of two independent essays that discuss the Pay for Performance (P4P)
in Primary Health Care. Both of the essays are based on the microeconomic rationale of Optimal
Contracts Theory to understand effective payment designs in healthcare systems. The first essay
introduces a microeconomic discussion underlying P4P in primary care services, in an
asymmetric economic environment of information and moral hazard. Afterwards, using
empirical literature, the results of the system practical implementation in different countries are
presented, examining what the results are and what factors condition the success of the contract.
It was possible to observe that the P4P models adopted in different countries are quite
heterogeneous, provoking controversial results, which makes the effectiveness of adopting the
scheme remain in an open discussion in the literature. However, it’s evident that the success is
directly related to the contract design. The second essay addresses the implementation of the
P4P in PHC in Brazil, based on the “Previne Brasil” program, and has an ex-ante evaluation of
this policy. The objective of this paper is to understand, from a theoretical structure of a
financing with a risk-sharing system in an environment with adverse selection, the Institutional
Design of the new federal financing model of primary care, in order to verify if it was elaborated
in order to ensure the effectiveness in the provision of services in Brazilian municipalities. The
results of the study suggest that the design of the P4P, within Previne Brasil, presents serious
vulnerabilities, and differs from what is recommended by the Theory of Optimal Contracts.

The influence of parents on academic performance has been the subject of studies for several decades by several renowned researchers. There is empirical evidence that has so much influence when associated with the presence of parents in the school environment that it is possible to notice an improvement in the indicators that measure student performance. It is known that there are several factors that can influence a student's academic performance, whether family background, school structure, teacher training and the individual's own intrinsic characteristics, including effort. However, we must mention the great relevance of the factor close to parents at school as a fundamental element for greater family involvement in their children's education and the impact that this behavior generate son children's performance. With this in mind, the municipality of Salvador signed a project called Education Agent in partnership with a third sector entity to provide students in the municipal children's network with greater integration of their parents with the school environment with the aim that this involvement would positively affect their performance. Students and which was perceived through the improvement of the IDEB indicator. In this sense, this work aimed to find a relationship between the participation of parents in activities promoted by the school and the academic performance of their children in the educational range of elementary level I, evaluating the impact of such participation with the econometric tools appropriate to there search.

In recent decades, women have increased their participation in the labor market. Despite this increase, there are still questions about this participation that continue to be debated. The question that arises is income differentials are wider at the top of the wage distribution. The objective of this work is to verify the existence of the Glass ceiling effect in the job market for women in positions of directors and management in Brazil. The analysis is performed for the years 2012 and 2019 using microdata from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNADc). The econometric model used is the quantile regression proposed by Firpo, Fortin and Lemieux (2009;2011) which breaks down salary differences at different points in the distribution. Thus, it is possible to distinguish how wages behave in different quantiles. The results indicate that there is a wage gap favorable to men that increases as wages rise, for all quantiles analyzed men have higher wage returns than women.

The objective of this dissertation is to compare the perspective of intercurrences in the commuting flow of pedestrians between the urban regions of Ilha de Itaparica and Salvador, considering the transport modes of maritime crossing Lanchinhas and Ferryboat. The occurrence of outliers in the passenger flows of these modes will be carried out through the Intervention Analysis methodology of univariate time series. The research shows that the pendular flow of sea crossings between the two regions is linked to the historical links of the choices of these urban sites in the colonial maritime economy of Salvador and with the recent survival strategies of the families of Itaparica. The results show that the SARIMA (0,1,0)(0,1,1)12 model describes the two passenger flows in active commuting. The Ferryboat modal is more sensitive to externalities, with incidents observed in advance and lasting longer due to its integration with the road system through a bus terminal, providing greater interaction with the other urban regions of the Island of Itaparica. The Lanchinhas modal is more stable to changes by outliers, since it meets only the most local demands. Finally, the results also show that a failure to observe the effects associated with the sinking of a vessel in Lanchinhas modal on 08/24/2017, still revealing a strong social dependence of this modal that presents monopoly characteristics.

ABSTRACT
The objective of the dissertation is to identify the possibility of misallocation of
resources in the Brazilian economy, based on calculations of intermediate goods
multipliers, production elasticity to total factor productivity (TFP) and capital goods.
The research is based on the literature on misallocation and real cycle theory. Thus,
indicators were calculated based on a neoclassical model of intermediate goods applied
to a database of input-output matrices for the Brazilian economy. In this way, it was
possible to identify which sectors of the Brazilian economy are most affected
intersectorally by the misallocation of resources and which investments can be made to
mitigate the phenomenon. The results show that the Brazilian economy presents a
considerable degree of misallocation that causes it to lose part of its dynamics. This is
due to the lack of technological development in the production of intermediate goods,
which, in turn, compromises the performance of national production chains

This paper carries out an institutional-evolutionary analysis of the closure of Petrobras' activities in the state of Sergipe. The justifications for Petrobras' divestments are listed, linking them to the major trends in the sector's evolution, mainly de-verticalization and the transition from onshore to offshore field operations. The results for Sergipe's Regional Innovation System are analyzed, focusing on R&D institutions, anchor companies and regional service providers. The results of the research point to a strong capacity for resilience in the regional sector and a complex transition of R&D institutions to adapt to the new constitution of the industry, which is more occupied by private governance.The results of this analysis revealed that Petrobras' divestments had a significant impact on the region, with the flight of the workforce being the main challenge faced by local companies. In addition, the decrease in the level of business activity was a direct consequence of this situation. The context was made even more complex by the difference in timing in relation to other oil Local Productive Arrangements (APLs) in the Northeast, which recovered earlier and became preferred destinations for the sergipean workforce. This discrepancy in time has contributed to the prolonged migration of human resources from the region, delaying the recovery of the sector in Sergipe and making the training of qualified workers one of the main challenges of this recovery.

The objective of this thesis is to verify the effect of employment opportunities (unemployment rate) on local skilled internal migrants (immigration rate) in Brazilian municipalities. Studies on the Economics of Migration suggest that the variables employment/unemployment, income, human capital, size of cities, cost of living and distance from the regions of the municipalities of origin. The literature review shows that more skilled people who migrate tend to move to larger cities. Thus, it starts with a theoretical and analytical model based on the New Economic Geography, in which specific characteristics of the most dynamic regions tend to attract greater flows of transactions or people. The model for determining skilled migration includes the variables observed in Brazilian municipalities, the unemployment rate for those over 16 years of age. The explanatory variables were separated by economic, social, demographic and human capital blocks. It was verified the probability that the most qualified (inter-municipal) migrants are attracted to the municipalities due to the better job opportunities in the destination municipalities. Econometric analysis of the data showed an expected negative relationship between skilled migration (migration rate) and employment opportunities (unemployment rate). The methodology was based on the estimation of OLS models with multiplicative dummy variables of region and agglomeration, using a panel database with fixed and cross-section effects, with migration data from Brazilian municipalities for the years 1991, 2000 and 2010. The results showed that there may be a reduction in the importance of job opportunities in large cities of around -30.3%. It is worth mentioning that large cities have another type of attractor for migrants – which may be linked to urban amenities and the scale of the city itself. Regarding the Regions, job opportunities in the South and Central-West regions presented an expected negative sign, indicating a respective increase of 48.0% and 130.0% in relation to Brazil, while for the Northeast Region the sign shown was positive. , indicating an unexpected decrease of -67.0% compared to benchmarking.

The central objective of this work is to analyze the ways in which state policies regarding the workforce in Brazil were implemented and how they evolved, seeking to detect how changes in these policies are associated with the advancement of the process of capital internationalization. The perspective adopted considers that this process implies important transformations in the format of national States and in the composition of forces that express themselves within their scope and there strive to establish courses of action. The process of capital internationalization is the methodological starting point for the analysis of the State and its policies regarding the workforce, considering that this constitutes a fundamental tendency of capitalism, constituting one of the dominant traits of the system today. The concept adopted that the phenomenon manifests itself historically with distinct contours and, in specific social formations, causes significant changes in the characteristics of national states to the extent that they also internationalize. Internationalization represents material base that configures some trends that include scales of variation. The period covered by the research starts from the 1950s and continues to the present day, emphasizing those sub-periods in which the internationalization process occurs more strongly and the state apparatus and the State's performance undergo more significant transformations. Indicators of the progress of the internationalization of the Brazilian economy are used; the State's action on components of exploitation and reproduction of the workforce; changes in the legislation concerning the conditions of exploitation of the workforce and the organization of workers and considered indicative elements of the performance of the different fractions of capital and the workers' movement at the state level.

Guinea Bissau is a country of almost two million inhabitants and an area of 36,125 km², located on the west coast of Africa, in the part where the waters are richest, mainly in terms of diversity and biological productivity typical of tropical regions. The wealth of Guinean-Bissau’s is due to the existence of an extensive and shallow continental shelf, great diversity of ecosystems, a coastline dotted with numerous estuaries, rivers, and the presence of mangroves that line the coast. Despite the prominent position of fishing in the economy of Guinea-Bissau, the fishing sector, including artisanal fishing, lacks political support to fulfill its role in the socio-economic context. Evidence supports the fact that the local artisanal fishermen relies on fishing as their last means of subsistence for themselves and their families, as a way overcome financial difficulties, the low levels of social integration, limited levels of education, and healthcare. This study aims to identify and analyze the technical, economic, and the level of technical efficiency relative to socio-efficiency of artisanal fishermen in the Autonomous Sector of Bissau, as a tool for management and development of the artisanal fishing sector in Guinea-Bissau, Africa. Knowledge of the socio-economic profile, technical socio-efficiency, and productive structure of artisanal fishermen in Guinea-Bissau is not only of significant importance to policy makers but also provides a link to concepts of technical, economic, social, and environmental efficiency. Furthermore, it raises awareness of factors related to the inefficiency of artisanal fishermen and provides insight into possible improvement in the determinants of these inefficiencies. Primary data was collected through questionnaires applied to a sample of 124 artisanal fishermen in the Autonomous Sector of Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. Tabular and descriptive analysis were used, as well as the calculation of economic indicators, under deterministic conditions, socio-efficiency, using the method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and, finally, homogeneity of producers calculated by the cluster analysis method. The results showed marked differences in terms of age, number of family members, and management capacity and, consequently, profit generation in the fishing production scope. Based on economic indicators, the profit margin of producers, in general, was heterogeneous, with noticeable differences in the minimum, average, and maximum profit values found of -150,907.68 BRL, 78,564.28 BRL, and 614,612.32 BRL, respectively, with 18.54% of producers indicating losses. The average level of technical efficiency and technical socio-efficiency of artisanal fisherman in the Autonomous Sector in Bissau, the variable return to scale model, were 91.45%, 97.55%, and 99.82%, respectively.

Housing policies in the history of Brazil have not been able to reach the less favored sections of the population en masse. In 2009, the “Minha Casa, Minha Vida” Program (MCMV) was created, which, in twelve years, the public policy delivered more than 4 million homes to families with incomes of up to 3 minimum wages. In general, studies that proposed to assess the impacts of an adult's migration to the program and its consequences for the labor market did not find positive results for formal employability. Due to the excess of demand in large cities, the selection is made through a random method and meets certain criteria of priority for the formation of groups for lottery. With that in mind, this dissertation seeks to estimate the effect of migrating to a new house in the housing complex, through the MCMV, on results in the labor market for individuals in the municipality of Salvador. For this purpose, the databases of the identified RAIS, the Salvador Housing Registry and the list of people who signed contracts with Caixa Econômica Federal were combined. The results suggest a reduction in the formal employability of adults by up to 7 percentage points for those who migrate to a new home, and a negative impact of up to 9 percentage points for employability on the last day of the year for program beneficiaries after two years, due to factors such as the distancing of housing projects from the urban fabric, which are in the same direction as the national literature on the impact on the formal market. The contribution of the work will be fundamental to start the investigations of the exogenous impacts of the program, since it is one of the first to analyze the data for the context of the Northeast region of Brazil, which has Salvador as its largest capital.

The federative decentralization, which initially occurred with the promulgation of the Federal Constitution of 1988, gave autonomy and administrative independence to the municipalities, but caused financial difficulties, especially the underfunding of health care. To face this reality, states and municipalities are making use of federative cooperation through public health consortia to provide public health services of medium and high complexity. Therefore, this work seeks to understand how the public health consortia contribute to regionalization and financing of public policies for medium and high complexity health services in Bahia, taking as a control group the previous experiences in Minas Gerais and Ceará. The research methodology used is qualitative descriptive, using the bibliographic and documental research as instruments of data collection and, to analyze the information extracted, it is used the content analysis, as a systematization technique. Through this, it could be observed that, the Public Health Consortia of Bahia meet the process of regionalization of health and are an alternative to the underfunding of health care in Bahia. In terms of institutional standardization, the Bahian CIS are similar to those of Minas Gerais and Ceará, only presenting small differences in relation to state and municipal laws; the organizational structure, also, presents similarities in terms of the functioning of the consortia themselves, and this is stronger between the Ceará and Bahia. The Bahian CIS present state capacity, reflected in the Regional Polyclinics. In public governance, the Bahian public health consortia form a public-public partnership between the state and the consorted municipalities of the health region, they are interfederative (vertical) consortia, similar to that of Ceará and different from those of Minas Gerais.

The objective of this study is to show an internalization of the practice of coordination and planning of industrial policies in South Korea in the post-1990s that will help the country to overcome the challenges of the change in the dynamics of international trade and the advance of the technological frontier. For such a foundation, firstly, it is necessary to contest the theoretical framework of industrial policy, going through its definition, different theoretical foundations and evolution of policy approaches. Next, it is important to highlight the two challenges focused in this work (the global value chain and the fourth industrial revolution), emphasizing their problems for newly industrialized countries such as South Korea. Afterwards, entering the case study of the South Korean, a historical overview of industrial policies was made through the Five-Year Plans (1960-1980) in order to emphasize how the practice was important for the process of catching up and productive transformations. Despite the discontinuation of the coordination of industrial development policies due to the implementation of neoliberal reforms in the 1990s, after a deep financial crisis in 1997, state activism in industrial policy planning and in the financial sector resumed in the post-1990s and is present in the economic policies of South Korean administrations until the present time. Thus, given the productive transformations and the rise of South Korea in international trade due to the continuation of the practice of coordinating industrial development, it is expected that the country will identify the implications of the new challenges and update its policy approaches to maintain the border and competitive status of its production chain.

Understanding the true effect of government spending on increasing aggregate demand is a matter of fundamental importance for economic policy makers. Studies indicate that the magnitude of fiscal multipliers varies depending on the method and time frame. The objective of this work is to verify if the fiscal multiplier has a different magnitude than the one dependent on the phase of the economic cycles of the Brazilian economy. The behavior of the government expenditure multiplier was sought using monthly data from the Brazilian economy between 1995 and 2019 based on the Generalized Least Squares (GMM) method to test the behavior of fiscal multipliers in the phases of economic cycles. The results found show that an expansionary fiscal policy is different depending on the phase of the economic cycle and has the ability to increase GDP in times of recession, for the context and transition period. Using an alternative economic activity variable, the multiplier remains positive and relevant, making those known by the proposed analysis robust.

In the knowledge society, intangible capital is the source of sustainable competitive advantage for companies, providing more productivity and profitability for organizations. The objective of this study was to approach the use of intangible assets in direct reimbursable financing for innovation in the main development agencies in Brazil: FINEP, BNDES and BNB. To this end, a bibliographic review on the subject was carried out and a questionnaire was used based on an adapted model of assessment of intangibles from Deutscher (2008) with the following dimensions of analysis for capital: strategic, environmental, relationship, structural and human. Through the qualitative-quantitative methodology in which descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis were used (Multiple Correspondence Analysis - ACM) through the R software, 3 banks and their main lines of direct reimbursable financing to innovation participated in the field research in which it was identified that all institutions use intangible assets in the credit granting process, however with different levels of relevance in each category, with emphasis on structural capital in which it obtained the best evaluation in the class of considerable relevance (scale 4). The study brought reflections to discussions on intangible assets, how they can be identified and measured, innovation and its financing in Brazil.

In view of the complexity and robustness of the Unified Health System (SUS), constant improvement and deep understanding of how the system works is required. In this context, this thesis is composed of three essays. The first, strictly descriptive, briefly analyzed the construction of the SUS, addressing its beveridgian character and legal bases. The objective was to list the challenges of the system from a multilevel perspective. The second, investigated the existing demand pressures, incorporating the differential access to health services between formal and informal workers. The estimates made through the two-stage Negative Binomial Model confirmed the existence of the high opportunity cost faced by the informal workers generating additional costs to the SUS. The third essay proposes the strengthening of Primary Health Care (PHC) through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The central objective was to estimate the relationship between the adherence of technologies in Basic Health Units (PHU) and the number of patients served. We also considered the weight of political actors in the articulation of demands and agendas, which could highlight policies favorable to digitalization or not. Two methodological strategies were used: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Propensity Score Matching (PMS). The results indicated that the UBS with the highest level of digitalization did not have high numbers of attendances, however, the most technological units were located in municipalities with greater political alignment.

The objective of the thesis was to evaluate the relationship between urban structure and crime in the intra-urban area of the city of Salvador-Bahia. The research problem considered that better accessibility to the transport network and workplaces reduces the occurrence of specific crimes. The thesis was structured in two essays. The first essay analyzed the effects of the implementation of the subway system on bus robbery crimes. The analysis used a panel database with socioeconomic information (CENSO-IBGE) and bus robbery crimes (SSP-BA, 2012-2018). The spatial differences in differences (SDID) method was used to identify the effect of the subway on the analyzed crimes. It was observed that neighborhoods with lower population density, such as commercial districts and large avenues, recorded the highest number of bus robberies. The SDID results indicated that the implementation of the first line of the subway system on bus robberies had a positive direct effect, a negative indirect effect, but the total effect was not statistically significant. The second essay analyzed how the number of jobs in the formal labor market affected crimes against property in the analyzed period. The research problem considered that regions with higher employment intensity reduce the opportunity cost of committing crimes against property. To verify this for the intra-urban area of the city of Salvador, this study adopted a panel data model using an instrumental variable to deal with employment endogeneity. The crime data used (bus robbery, robbery and theft of vehicles) were provided by the SSP-BA (2012-2014), while the employment information was from RAIS-ME and the socioeconomic data and the flow of people were, respectively, the CENSOIBGE and the Origin & Destination Survey. The results obtained did not provide evidence for the existence of effects of the amount of employment on the crimes analyzed in the city of Salvador and indicated that neighborhoods with greater employment intensity recorded more crimes against property. This is supported by the theoretical model and the literature adopted, which relate this type of behavior to opportunity costs and ease of access and escape. The greater flow of transitory population and the bus-metro-bus integration system in the regions benefited by the subway system demand specific safety measures from the public authorities for these regions. In addition, the insertion of the subway and the creation of job vacancies, per se, are not enough to reduce crime if these vacancies are not accessible to the population more prone to commit crimes against property.

This thesis addresses as a central theme the relationship between the State and the expansion of mineral exploration activity in Bahia, adopting as a chronological cut, in a more general scope, the period that opens in the early 2000s and, more specifically in Bahia, from 2007. The approach from the Expanded State, referenced in Gramsci, seeks to shed light on the relationship between instances linked to the Restricted State and civil society entities and organizations linked to the interests of the mineral sector in Bahia, identifying and analyzing the main agents and agencies that act in this process. In this way, firstly some elements are presented that highlight the expansion of mineral exploration in Bahia, associating this to the transformations in the national spheres and in the world market. Then, the eleven largest mining companies operating in Bahia are characterized and analyzed, highlighting elements related to the type of mineral explored, origin of capital, participation in mineral production in Bahia, among other elements that structure part of this sector in the state. Continuing, the main entities and organizations that operate in Bahia and are linked to the interests of the mineral exploration sector are characterized, both within the restricted State and civil society, highlighting the main leaders in these organizational structures. Joint initiatives of restricted State's instances and civil society are also presented and discussed, in the sense of building a positive discourse around mining and enabling the interests of groups linked to this segment based on State policies. Finally, some issues related to conflicts generated by enterprises linked to mineral exploration in Bahia are approached, opposing the construction of the discourse that presents mineral exploration as an important vector of development for the state

The objective of this research is to analyze the effect of transportation cost on the performance of Brazilian maritime exports. The infrastructure and efficiency of the provision of transport services and costs have lately been investigated in the field of transport economics. Brazil performs poorly in terms of transport quality and connectivity and in some other infrastructure-related aspects. Thus, a gravitational econometric model with fixed effects of origin and destination used to measure the effects of transport costs on the weight of exports from Brazilian states. Export data from the 27 states of Brazil with the rest of the world by sea were used for the period from 2013 to 2019. Based on the literature, the distance between the capitals of the states and the ports they handle was used on average 95% of Brazilian exports, and also a set of socioeconomic variables of the states. The results found showed that there is a negative, statistically significant and elastic relationship between the distance and the volume of export weight, meaning that the greater the distance between the state capitals and the ports, the smaller the weight of the export volume.

After an era in which neoliberalism was exalted and the efficiency of the markets considered undeniable, there was a return to discussions about two chronic problems of the capitalist economy: income inequality and poverty. Based on political economy and the method of comparative research, this thesis aims to explain how income inequalities, poverty and social public policies were characterized and related in the comparisons between China and Brazil in the period from 2000 to 2020. Public social policies have been considered essential to reduce the level of inequalities, as well as poverty, and, for this reason, they have become central to some governments, which are seeing a worsening of these rates as a problem that must at least be attenuated, considering that it would not be possible to supplant it, according to some views, within the capitalist system of production. Brazil and China, so called emerging countries, with wide prominence in the international scenario, have a high level of income and wealth inequality, as well as poverty, despite their great historical differences and recent economic performance. The comparative analysis will make it possible to understand and analyze selected social public policies (education, health, labor market and assistance), which had implications for income inequalities and poverty in Brazil and China, in the course of the transformations that occurred in the 2000s and 2010s. The hypothesis is that, in both countries during the period considered, state action in the social area increased, resulting in a high positive correlation between social public policies and poverty reduction, but without significant change in income inequality. Considering the data and analyzing the relationships between the determinant and crucial elements of the research, the conclusion is that social public policies favored the improvement of the living conditions of the poorest, while noting, however, their serious limitations in altering the picture of discrepancies in income and above all wealth. The effects of social public policies were conditioned by the national particularities of both countries, as very unequal societies, and by the structural determinations of the exploitation of labor in the capitalist system.

The State of Bahia has a significant potential for wind energy, estimated at 195 GW for a height of 150m, is the leader in contracting wind energy in the country, has 20 municipalities with implemented projects. Differently from other states in the Northeast region, which have a higher incidence of winds on the coast, Bahia concentrates its wind potential in the interior, more specifically in the semiarid region, which suffers from a shortage of rain, poverty and low levels of human development. Renewable energies, such as wind energy, are important and necessary in the fight against climate change, however some adverse effects present in the implementation of wind projects still need to be overcome. Because, in addition to the environmental and socioeconomic benefits of wind generation, there are also negative social and environmental externalities arising from this activity. In the case of the semi-arid region of Bahia, due to its particularities, the benefits of the activity for the region, changes in the way of life of local populations, conflicts resulting from the implementation of projects, and actions to mitigate the impacts of the projects through environmental constraints. In this sense, some questions arise. How does the implementation of wind farms in Bahian municipalities help in the social and economic development of the semi-arid region of Bahia? How can the negotiations for the signing of lease agreements between companies and rural communities around wind farms potentialize conflicts in rural areas? As has been applied, in the social area, the resources of investments in wind generation in Bahian municipalities with wind projects, through the social and environmental programs carried out by the entrepreneurs. Therefore, this work seeks to unravel the relationship between wind energy, as a renewable energy, and its economic and socio-environmental dimensions in the semiarid region of Bahia. To this end, the thesis is organized into three articles that seek to answer the research questions. The first article analyzes the economic impacts of wind activity on sectors of economic activities in the semi-arid region of Bahia and its possible potential for the development of the region. The second article deals with the socio-environmental conflicts associated with the projects and the relationship between entrepreneur versus owner/occupant of land through lease contracts of properties in selected communities in the semiarid region of Bahia. In addition, finally, the third article deals with the actions of socio-environmental programs carried out by companies to mitigate the impacts of projects on the socio-economic environment in the implementation and operation phases, based on the conditions proposed by the environmental agency in the environmental licensing. In methodological terms, in addition to using the input-output method to construct the Bahia semiarid matrix; also carried out field research in the traditional communities of deep pasture, Mangabeira and Boa Vista, in the municipality of Brotas de Macaúbas, Bahia; applied forms with companies; and, made semi-structured changes community leaders. The results of the first article showed that an investment of approximately 18 billion BRL in the wind power chain has the possibility of generating of more than 28 billion BRL in direct and indirect impacts on the economy, at first. However, considering the total impacts on the economy of the semiarid region of Bahia with this investment, there is the possibility of impacting the region's total production by up to 46 billion BRL, with a multiplier effect of 2.5. As expected, the civil construction sector had the greatest prominence. The impacts on job creation can lead to the creation of approximately up to 5,300 formal jobs in the economy. The most impacted sectors were civil construction and others in the extractive industry. The second article showed that initially, elements of insecurity in the contracts about the limits of land use and conflicts generated around the remuneration of the property lease. However, after negotiations between the communities, the company, the Geografar Research Group and civil organizations, a new contract was drawn up. Thus, the case of Brotas de Macaúbas demonstrated that lease contracts can be altered for the greater benefit of a community or owner/occupant, as long as they are well advised to demand changes in what is presented to them as an excellent opportunity, even if not. Finally, the third article pointed out that during the implementation and start of operation of the wind farms, environmental actions were developed in rural communities. It was also found that after granting the operating license, the environmental agency conditions the projects to submit semiannual or annual reports for inspection purposes, but a periodicity of inspections to verify compliance with environmental conditions during the operation is not established. In addition, it was observed that even the State having a fundamental role in licensing, it lost its more participatory character, when it was tripartite, in favor of agility and ease for the entrepreneur. Thus, greater State action is needed to protect the impacted rural communities and ensure greater protection for the environment.

The objective of this paper is to analyze the effect of the concentration pattern of the banking system at the local level on the credit conditions and profitability of micro and small companies in Brazil. A portion of the finance literature indicates that the banking monopoly increases credit restrictions for smaller firms. However, the literature on the creditor-debtor relationship indicates that large financial corporations improve credit conditions for these firms. Thus, there is no consensus among researchers about the impacts of monopoly power on access to credit. However, banking concentration and regional heterogeneity in Brazil favor the analysis of the effects of monopoly power on firms’ credit conditions at the municipal level. A wide database made available by public institutions in Brazil enabled the construction of data at the local level. Microdata is formed by the set of information from the banking, legal, regional accounts and micro and small companies from 1995 to 2017. In addition to the database, the quantitative analysis is divided into three stages. The first examined whether the monopoly power of banks has an impact on the credit conditions and profitability of micro and small businesses. The results of this estimation pointed to greater credit rationing for these firms. In light of this evidence, the second stage is observed because banks do not ease credit restrictions in view of the sector’s monopoly power. The work analyzed as hypotheses of efficiency in the banking and legal sector. Indicators signaled inefficiency indices for both the banking and legal sectors. Thus, these favorable results that levels of physical and legal efficiency reduce as a credit restriction for micro and small companies. However, bank cost inefficiency levels can be correlated with spatial characteristics. The regional literature indicates that the physical distance between the institutions’ headquarters and branches generates agency costs. Therefore, the results of the third stage show that the increase in distance between the main municipality and bank branches increases credit costs for micro and small businesses. Therefore, the easing of credit conditions in Brazil depends on increased competition between banks combined with the development of the banking market at the regional level and the improvement in the efficiency levels of the legal sector.

FIESP's formal support for the impeachment process that removed President Dilma Rousseff, besides being unprecedented in the history of the industrial entity, was a turning point in the relationship that was created with the PT and, more precisely, with the government of the aforementioned representative. Especially because, the government followed almost entirely FIESP's suggestions on economic policies, and at the same time, they received much public support from this entity that remains the main industrial class entity in the country. Rousseff's removal from the Presidency of the Republic ended a period (2003 2014) marked by the strong action of the political front formed by popular segments of society and even by FIESP itself. For this reason, the referred support for the impeachment will be investigated to elucidate the economic projection that the industrial class of the state of São Paulo materialized by deciding to act politically in favor of President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment. In consequence, against the maintenance of a project that, since the mid 2000s, combined economic growth with some degree of income distribution. This was done, pari passu, pursuing the following specific objectives: A) to clarify the political and economic context of the period preceding the impeachment process; B) to explain how FIESP abandoned its support for the liberal standard from the Washington Consensus and formed the neo developmentalist front that supported the PT governments, to later on, abandon it in favor of the 2016 impeachment; C) to explain how the 2014 2016 crisis led FIESP to defend economic measures proposed by the MDB, linked to orthodox economics, that would not be implemented in PT’s government. A bibliographic review has been used in a double perspective, both exploratory and explanatory. The exploratory perspective is observed in the study of the economic theories and concepts, that will form the theoretical base of this dissertation. The explanatory perspective is evident when, in the light of the subjects brought by the previous exploratory research, this dissertation goes on to explain the economic factors that justify (or at least explain) FIESP's support for President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment. In addition, this work relied on the news published in the press of the class entities under analysis, as well as the mainstream corporate media. It was concluded that the support of the referred industrial entity to the impeachment was sought to maintain the process of cost reduction for the industrial sector that was already in course, but now under new bases and in a new economic and political scenario. The FIESP strategy, here referred to as the “Agenda FIESP II”, has been unable to create the necessary conditions to overcome Brazil's dependency condition. On the contrary, the adoption of policies carried out after Dilma Rousseff's removal from the Presidency of the Republic has deepened the dependence of the Brazilian economy, with the potential to destroy what has been achieved since the 1930 Revolution. Agenda FIESP II

Affirmative action policies have as it´s main objective to try to equalize the access to opportunities among the different social groups, aiming specially those who need the most. This paper tries to measure the impact of the implementation of the first social and racial quota system in the Federal University of Bahia (UFBa), which happened in 2005. Two analyses will be done, the first one will be focused on the effects on the entrance exam for UFBa (vestibular), measuring the impacts on student racial self-identification, on performance and on socioeconomic profile diversification; the second one will be done for those who actually enroll for college, for which the main outcomes will be measures of performance during tertiary education. Two databases will be used for the analyses, the first one is a database containing information for those who took the vestibular for the years from 2003 to 2007; the second one has information of all students academic activity during their time at UFBa for the years from 2003 to 2006. The results for the vesitular show that there was a significant impact on student racial self-identification and on average performance and social diversification for those approved. As for the second analysis, the results indicate that the graduation rates among students from public schools fell after the quota system was implemented, although, this effect concentrates itself specially on students from STEM courses. Besides that, for those who indeed graduate, it seems that the knowledge gap decreases from first semester until graduation, also, there is a statistically significant but almost null effect on time spent during graduation. Finally, when we estimate the impact including a control for accumulated knowledge on college entrance, the effects disappear in almost all cases, while some of the impacts now favor those who came from public schools.

The objective of this dissertation is to analyze the financial centralization process implemented in China, considering how this process contributed to leverage economic development and what is its dynamics in the period from 1978 to 2000. During these years, world economies have undergone many transformations, gradually losing the relevance of economic policies of State. On the other hand, the reconstruction of the recent trajectories of these policies by the Chinese economy, that shaped their financing model centralized in decisions of state, it is a counterpoint to this analysis and demonstrates that this transformation has not prevented the success of the strategy of the financial centralization adopted by the economy. Alternatively, structures based on bank credit are a consequence of the delay, a response to the scarcity of capital resources, and this was the model used by the Chinese economy to reposition itself on the world market. Through the increase in credit and, consequently from its investment, China has obtained the savings resources that so much are discussed by orthodox economic theory as the origin of the development process, inverting this logic. The Chinese experience is part of a broad process of structural transformation, which will be addressed in this study since the 1978 economic reform, passing the construction and subsequent banking reform of the 1990s, well how the 1999 economic reorientation plan, consolidating the country the end of twentieth century, as a major world power. The process of building a powerful financial system, based on credit policies directed and oriented to strategic sectors, seeks to enrich the debate on the trajectory of Chinese development. In this scenario, Chinese growth has boosted the world economy, being its main exponent of development. Understanding this development logic is one of the purposes that will be pursued by this study. The Chinese financing model, that is centralized in the policies and decisions of the central government, was constituted from the credit policies directed, managing to be one of the main variables for the great Chinese economic growth of this period. Before this perspective, sought understand how financial structures played a fundamental role in transforming their economy over this period. Thus, it is intended to debate the relevance of financial centralization as a strategic mechanism for development and discuss the needs and challenges for financing investment in countries of late industrialization, where the State's presence is not an exception but a rule for equalize its difficulties and structural issues. The Chinese State, through a centralized financing model, formulated consistent credit policies, managing to satisfactorily equate and recompose the resources for their investments, reversing a logic that summarized the prescriptions and policies of orthodox economic theory. In this way, he managed to overcome his developmental delay, demonstrating that it is possible to accelerate and improve the quality of economic growth through the development and centralization of financial intermediation.

Cette thèse analyse le rapport entre l’État relationnel et la trajectoire des Conseils Techniques et Vulgarisation Agricole (ATER) dans le domaine de l’agriculture brésilienne. On essaye d’expliquer les limites et possibilités de la Polítique Nationale des Conseils Techniques et Vulgarisation Agricole (PNATER), plus particulièrement de cette politique à l’intérieur de l’État de Bahia (PEATER). La création de la PEATER à Bahia s’est faite en 2011, suivant une stratégie décentralisée depuis 2014. Ici, plus particulièrement, on envisage vérifier si la PEATER est appuiée sur un point de départ critique, démocratique et participatif, en cohérence avec les principes de la PNATER, par opposition au modèle de vulgarisation agricole fondé sur une base productiviste. On analyse les avis d’appel publiques du gouvernement baianais, pendant la période 2015-2018, et l’exécution des services engagés à l’intérieur de deux Térritoires d’Identité (TI). Cette thèse, fondée sur la méthode matérialiste histórique et enrichie par des recherches sur le terrain, est rapportée à trois dimensions: l’État, les institutions d’exécution, et les familles bénéficiaires. On apprend que la PEATER est l’objet d’une construction sociale, avec la participation des couches populaires de la société. Des institutions d’exécution de conseils téchniques, au bénéfice des couches populares, ont été crées en 2014. Malgré les limites de l’action spatiale-temporelle, la PEATER a évolué em faveur d’une ATER holistique et systémique, qui comprend la famille et sa façon de vivre, sa réproduction économique et sociale. Pour les recherches sur le terrain, on a choisi les TI Bacia do Jacuípe, et Sertão do São Francisco. L’objectif est suivre quelques activités collectives exécutées par les institutions UNICAFES e IRPAA, à l’intérieur des TI qui leur concernent. Suivant les principes de la PNATER, on remarque: a) quelles sont les activités qui se rapportent au paradigme de base agroécologique; b) la diversification et l’intégration des systèmes de production; c) les méthodes de communication concernant la mise em valeur des savoirs et traditions dans le processus de construction de la connaissance; d) la participation des femmes et des jeunes dans les activités; e) l’inclusion des familles auprès des politiques et programmes sociaux. Les actions mises en pratique à l’intérieur des TI révèlent: l’organisation des familles dans les groupes de travail, gestion des processus participatifs des communautés, accès aux politiques publiques, diversification et intégration des systèmes de production, protection du biome Caatinga, commercialisation des produits dans les marchés au grand air, et des ventes directes aux institutions publiques. On peut admettre que les conseils techniques ont été mis en pratique, tout en accord avec les principes de la PNATER. Les institutions ont recours aux méthodologies participatives de base éducative, envisageant la diffusion de la connaissance collective; elles ont fait appel aux compétences pédagogiques de base agroecologique pour mettre en valeur des systèmes de production durables et l`autosuffisance des familles. Les institutions approfondissent la connaissance, en opposition à la méthode diffusioniste et productiviste, par le moyen des actions démocratiques. On reconnaît que le travail sur le terrain est très limité, car il ne se rapporte qu’à deux institutions. Dans ce cas, on ne peut pas généraliser les résultats pour tout l’État de Bahia. Chaque biome et le TI qui lui concerne présentent des caractéristiques particulières exigéant des analyses spécifiques. Il faut reconnaître que le service mené par les institutions a fait des progrès par la voie d’une politique sociale qui inclut les couches populares, malgré les limites imposés par le néoliberalisme. Bien que la PEATER soit  exécutée de façon démocratique et participative, elle est trop limitée à cause de la rareté de ressources financières. Cette fragilité réduit la portée des actions des institutions, lesquelles n’arrivent à soutenir que très peu de familles bénéficiaires. Éventuellement, un petit changement du scénario politique et économique peut faire réculer ou même bloquer le service. Les conflits et contradictions de classes, inhérents à l’État relationnel, résonnent sur la gestion du service publique du gouvernement de Bahia. Si, d’un côté, ce gouvernement crée des appareils d’État comme réaction aux demandes des couches populares, de l’autre côté, la politique sociale, restant limitée, restreint l’offre du service d’ATER démandé par les organisations et mouvements sociaux ruraux.

This work proposes an evaluation of the Brazilian science park experience in accord with their impacts on the local innovation systems of the municipalities where they were implemented. To do so, the evolutionary economics was identified as the appropriate framework to deal with such issue. A historical contextualization was made to follow the theoretical justifies for applying an industrial or innovation policies. In this discussion was identified the diffusion of science parks across the world was related to the understanding provided by this justifies. In Brazil, the concentration of in the South and Southeast regions it is related to the industrial constitution of the country, that was influenced by former policies. This was verified by the different ages of the science park policy in Brazil, that favor of the same regions, independently. In this sense, I highlighted, beyond the building of production capabilities, these regions also build some political organization capabilities. With that I mind, the empirical strategy has made several considerations to identify comparable municipalities. In the hypothesis test was applied a methodology used by Cirrilo et al. (2019), and Fagerberg and Shrolec (2008), but never used in this context, where was compare the differences-indifference of the municipalities’ local innovation systems taking account the year of park foundation. The results point out, on average, the Brazilian parks had positive impact on their local innovation systems, unless in a specific cut of experiences. At the end, it was presented a methodological suggestion to deal with such objects intensive in uncertainty and systemic relations, highly present in innovation policies. It was applied an agent-based model (ABM), simulating science park’ impacts. Such experiments, still preliminary, were in line with some of the questions raised by the research, motivating new studies.

Shark's tail or sardine head? Is it better to be the last among the first or the first among the
latter? By the year 2013, for certain courses of the Federal University of Bahia, the students
classified in the selection process were separated into two different classes. The allocation of
these students was made based on the decreasing order of performance in the vestibular,
creating, therefore, a "cut off" between the classes. Thus, students were close to the cut grade
with very similar performances, but depending on which side of the cut they were, they were
allocated in classes where the other students had a higher or lower level of ability. This
university selection format enabled the use of the regression discontinuity design to verify that
assigning a student to a class with more skilled students may have an effect on their performance
or their likelihood of dropping out of the course. The evidence found that for the students who
finished the course, to be allocated in a room with more skillful students reduces their
performance in the first semester by 1.6% and by 1.4% the performance during the course. In
addition, when dividing the sample by concentration areas, it is observed that the effect on
students of human sciences courses is even greater, approximately 3%, whereas for students of
exact sciences and biological sciences and health the estimated effects are not were statistically
significant. With regard to the impact on the probability of dropping out of the course, it was
found that the allocation of students to more skilled students, taking into account only the
students of human beings, implies a reduction of about 9% in the probability of giving up the
course. It is important to emphasize that this dissertation consists of the first work on peer
effects using the administrative data of the Federal University of Bahia and the methodology of
discontinuous regression.

This work aims to analyze the project Sistema Viário Oeste and its direct and indirect socioeconomic reverberations in its area of influence. With the objective of discussing selected aspects of the possible socioeconomic impacts of the implementation of the Western Road System (SVO), it aims only to broaden the debate on complementary actions capable of effecting and optimizing regional development from this infrastructure.Analyzing the importance of the complementary investments to the SVO, the work seeks to understand what are the necessary demands to make the project a manner of integrating the municipalities with the regional economy. The questions raised in the research are: i. What are the complementary actions for the SVO ?; ii. The SVO will be the mobility instrument that will meet the urgent need for the urban chassis to spread and spatial deconcentration of the economic activity of the Metropolitan Region of Salvador (RMS)? iii. the construction of the Salvador-Itaparica Bridge, the duplication of the BA-001 highway and the other infrastructure equipment could have positive effects on the regional growth and development of RMS, Baixo Sul and Recôncavo Baiano? The results found, together, reinforce the premise that investment in transport infrastructure is an indispensable condition for growth and, therefore, for reducing inequalities. However, given the limitations of raising a debate on the infrastructure to come, these same results indicate that the minimum conditions for achieving the desired regional economic deconcentration goals will only be achieved if the complementary strategies and actions contained in the SVO are implemented in the affected municipalities. In addition, it is concluded that the impact on the Territory of Identity of the Recôncavo will be greater than the impact on the Southern Low, with special attention to possible migratory movements of the South Down towards the capital, which contradicts the intention of the project.

The present dissertation seeks to bring elements that seek to elucidate motives and arguments in the current context of the development of capitalism, together with the question of its impact on the associated environment, with a brief explanation of the need for soil and water resources preservation and problematization around the sustainable development debate. It addresses the current stage of environmental degradation, and proposes alternatives within the framework of theoretical currents through Brazil as a central place for analysis, for having the largest tropical forest, in addition to its diversity of natural resources. Environmental discourse is coupled with the development of theoretical currents that seek to explain the functioning of capitalism and its impact on environmental development. Through environmental economic theories, they are based on five groups of analysis: Ecological Economics, Decreasers, Rational Ecology, Political Ecology and Ecosocialism. Thus, through analysis of the theoretical fields, the conclusion is reached by the ecosocialists as the most correct in the field of analysis of the approach to the limits and possibilities of sustainable development along the way and the possible paths of evolution in the question. This toil is an attempt to contribute to the theme.

The present study has a main objective to verify the evolution of the wage differentials between the racial groups, gender as well as interaction between both. In addition to analyzing the behavior of the discrimination coefficient among interest groups in the Metropolitan Region of Salvador (RMS), considering a time series. Brazil and four other metropolitan regions are considered at the comparative background – considered the main classification by the Instituto Brasileiro de Geográfia e Estatística (IBGE). Two older cohorts are used, one younger (25 to 30 years of age) and the older one (46 to 50 years old) to evaluate the trajectory of these variables (wage differentials and coefficient of discrimination) between race and the gender. In order to measure wage differentials, simples’ linear regressions were performed from a simpler model where only non-productive control variables were used for the models with more controls. In the latter case, corrections were made by Heckman to correct selection bias of employed workers caused by differences in the age that individuals enter in the labor market. Finally, Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition was performed to capture the coefficients of discrimination between the groups as well as their evolution throughout the series. Among the main results, it is worth mentioning the fact that the Metropolitan Region of Salvador presents the highest wage differentials among the racial groups. But it is also one of the ones that shows more trajectory of the fall of this gap as well as of the coefficient od discrimination compared to the other regions and Brazil. And the downward trend of the variables is higher among the younger ones. Regarding the gender differential, RMS is not very far from the country average. However, there is tendency to increase this variable and the coefficient of statistical discrimination. When interacting with color or race and gender it is observed that is a tendency to fall in the gap, but to increase the statistical discrimination.

The present work has the objective of analyzing the processes of structural changes in the Brazilian economy from the economic opening of 1990. The structural changes will be verified through the dynamics of the sectorial relations of economic growth linked to the capacity of absorption and diffusion technology, as well as the related aspects to the ability to respond to demand shocks in the aggregate productive structure. Recent research has shown that after the opening of trade, productive sectors that remained in the market achieved gains in efficiency; however, the country has not modernized enough to guarantee competitiveness and linkages at the international level. As a starting point, a diagnosis will be made of the responsiveness of the productive sectors to the impacts of demand and imported and national technological coefficients, given the increase in the level of trade integration of the national economy and, consequently, the increase of consumption of intermediate goods and the intensification of global production fragmentation. The perspectives based on the theory of growth and structural decomposition through the Input-Output approach allow the analysis of the structural change process of production, technological coefficients, and aggregate demand. Thus, the methodology applied in this work is based on the use of classical indicators of Input-Output analysis and methods of Structural Decomposition for the Brazilian economy. The results indicate that the manufacturing industry continues to the sector with the greatest capacity to provoke linkage effects and the largest productive multipliers. In periods of growing demand, the variation in technological coefficients in the productive sectors is negative, however, in periods of falling demand, the variation in technological coefficients becomes positive. In the analysis of substitution of coefficients imported by nationals, a decrease in the level of growth of national production was observed, indicating that the substitution of imported inputs by national inputs reduces the growth capacity of firms because they do not have the much aggregation of technology becoming less efficient. The productive structure of the Brazilian economy remains fragile, dependent on demand shocks for its growth and little capable of incorporating and diffusing technological innovations in its creation and production processes.

This dissertation is divided in two parts, at the first one, we talk about risk sistemic in Brazil, stretching the public debt, crowding out and the effects of the eficient of the monetary policy of indexing, the relevant part of the public debt, at overnight (how letra Financeira do Tesouro-LFT and compressed operation of the Central Bank). At the Second one, we showing a model of interest rates derivatives pricing, the string market model adapted to DI interest rate (daily average rate of the deposit interbanks), also knowing as CDI. We use the string market model to value the number of risk factor required to pricing the option on future of DI. Four risk factor are employed by market, therefore, we calibrated the model with data on implied volatility of option on future of DI to valuation the option on IDI (index of daily average rate of the deposit interbanks at one day).The two option are connected, because they have the same underlying variable. The two option moviment is correlated of the moviment of the term structure of interest rates, that correlation imply no-arbitrage relation between the two derivative. We conclude that no arbitrage oportunities exist in general. However, at some specific cases, the option "near the money", usually at moment of great volatility, there are important distortions in the prices, what can allow arbitrage oportunities.

This dissertation investigates if between 2000 and 2014 the Brazilian economy tended to the Dutch Disease phenomenon and the reverberations of this phenomenon in the economy of the country. Brazil is a country that specializes in the production of resource-intensive goods and is subject to adverse consequences as a result of this economic format, such as the Dutch Disease phenomenon. The industrial sector is pointed as one of the main factors of long term development, being this, the sector most harmed by the phenomenon of Dutch Disease, which may hinder the growth of the long term Brazilian economy. To identify the symptoms of this phenomenon, data regarding employment, value added, importation, exportation, industry and services were analyzed. Given the analysis of the listed data related to the primary, secondary and service sectors, as well as in industrial activities through the taxonomy by technological intensity, it is deduced by the existence of characteristics of the Dutch Disease phenomenon and with a greater re-primarization indication of the Brazilian economy.

The use of renewable energy sources is important not only to mitigate environmental impacts, but also to reduce dependency, promote self-sufficiency and broaden people's access to energy. Although conventional sources still meet most of the world's demand for electricity, generation through non-conventional renewable sources, i.e. not including large hydroelectric plants, has been strongly encouraged. The use of these sources encourages technological diffusion, particularly in developing countries, where equipment suppliers often create new industrial units, generating jobs and fostering the development of local businesses. In this sense, the use of abundant sources of energy, economically accessible and less harmful to the environment is a crucial element in overcoming the contradictions of the current economic model. The general objective of this thesis is to analyze the challenges for the consolidation of non-conventional renewable energy sources.Therefore, it is structured in three trials. The first examines the impact of institutional quality on the costs of private investment in non-conventional renewable sources in developing countries. It contributes to the literature that refers to the relationship between institutions and environmental quality, broadening the focus of analysis when addressing economic aspects of this relationship. In addition, it stands out for using a significant sample of over 1600 unconventional renewable energy projects in 68 developing countries.The second essay evaluates the technical efficiency of Brazilian wind energy projects in commercial operation. It contributes to the development of literature as the first work to analyze technical efficiency in Brazilian wind generation, one of the sources that has expanded the most in the country in recent years. The third essay examines whether the introduction of non-conventional renewable sources in Brazil has provided more affordable prices to consumers.It is an unprecedented study for the Brazilian energy sector, contributing to the development of literature. The results indicate that the quality of the institutional framework, the efficiency of the projects and the low prices of the electric energy generated are important to promote the use of non-conventional renewable sources. The insertion of these sources allows the construction of a more competitive, secure and sustainable energy matrix from the social, economic and environmental point of view.

In the last decades there have been major changes in the world production structure that resulted in a growing international fragmentation of production through global chains, which imputed new dynamics and patterns to international trade. In this context, understanding the current dynamics of international trade requires understanding the new forms of production organization, in which the dispersion of tasks globally, the governance structure and the productive interdependencies bilaterally assume a preponderant role. To this end, it analyzes the performance of the global pulp and paper industry as well as its performance and perspective from the perspective of global value chains (GVCs), as well as the role played by Brazil in this context. The purpose of the study was to understand how the capitalist productive restructuring and the logic of production and production carried out by the GVCs affect the current use and functioning of the global pulp and paper industry, as well as use as a pulp and paper industry. Brazil fits into this picture and which are the main trading partners of Brazil in GVC. The first hypothesis is that the global pulp and paper industry is one of the main industries that have undergone transformations with the internationalization of production, or that have resulted in greater integration between the Northern Hemisphere producing countries and the Southern Hemisphere countries, especially Brazil. However, the integration of the Brazilian industry with GVC of pulp and paper has been more intense regarding the amount of downstream. The second hypothesis is that Brazil is inserted mainly as an exporter of raw products and its sale has been used to supply natural resources. Therefore, use the value-added methodology of gross exports developed by Borin and Mancini (2017a) and the secondary data on production, exportation and importation of the major producing players of GVC. The results found selected as applicable hypotheses by pointing out that there is a structural change in the global pulp and paper industry are favored by the logic of GVCs and that in Brazil they are highlighted as a major productive player with increasing participation in production and export, being the country which adds more domestic value to industry exports as a percentage when compared to the other countries in the analysis. However, a greater share of this added value is in intermediate goods that are directly absorbed by importers for local final goods, or that give Brazil a low rate of participation in the chain when used by the main producers and exporters in the sector. The way that can conclude what within the logic of GVC or Brazil has a greater participation in the value of the chain and its insertion strategies that follow the logic of natural endowment of productive factors.

The objectiveofthisthesisistoidentifytherelationshipbetweenagglomerationandjobmatching in Brazil, focusingonhigherlevelworkers in theBrazilianpopulationarrangements. Labor market data point totheeffectsofproductivecompositionactingonthestructureofhigheremploymentcorrespondence in Brazil. The studies in Labor Economics, in turn, haveregistered positive, albeitmoderate, influenceofagglomerationonmatching. Ontheotherhand, empiricalevidencehasshownthatunobserved individual andspatialattributessignificantlyinfluencethe labor marketoutcomes. Thisthesis, in thiscontext, alsoadvancesto capture theinfluenceoftheconcentrationofunobserved individual skillsandunobserved regional characteristicsonthematchingofqualifiedindividuals. The approach adoptedis vertical matching, wherebythehighereducationleveloftheworkeriscomparedwiththeaverage formal educationrequirementsofthecorrespondingoccupation. From a largepanelof data from RAIS-MTE coveringtheperiod 2006-2014, thestudy uses linear probabilitymodelswithmultiplefixedeffectstocontroltheinfluenceofunobservedworkerandregioncharacteristics. onjob-qualificationmatching for higherskilledindividuals. The identificationstrategyproposes, in additiontofixedeffectscontrol, the use ofan instrumental variabletoidentifytheeffectsofagglomeration. The studyalsoassessestheextenttowhichbettermatchingamonghighereducatedworkersincreases individual-levelwagesandthuscontributestotheurbanwagepremium. The resultssuggestthatdensermarketsenhancebetterworker-employmentpairs, butreinforcethattheeffectsofurbandensityonmatchingtendtobeoverestimatedifskillsortingandunobserved regional attributes are notcontrolled. Estimateswith instrumental variablecorroboratedthattheendogenousrelationshipbetweenmatchingandurbandensity derives fundamentallyfromtheomission bias ofskills. Thus, it wasconcludedthatthegreaterlikelihoodof match in largeurban centers is, in fact, associatedwiththefactthatenvironmentsthatconcentrate more skilledworkersshouldspecialize in more skilledeconomicactivities, generating more complexjobs. Finally, theresults for thewageequationsshowedthatindividualswithbetterqualificationandoccupation matches experiencehigherwagegains. The samewastrue for workers in denser labor marketareas. Comparisonsbetweenthedifferentmodels, however, attestedthattheinfluenceofurbandensityonwagesisnotdrivenbybetterskillsmatching in mostagglomeratedenvironments

This work aims to investigate how the environmental crisis and its relationship with capitalism
is approached by the different environmental and ecological views. Its main objective is to
critically understand the main interpretations about the environmental crisis. To analyze the
reference or omission in the various approaches to the association between the environmental
crisis and the capitalist system and to introduce references to the critical indications of Karl
Marx and Friedrich Engels on the environment are specific objectives. The methodology
adopted was based on a review of the literature on the main environmental and ecological
interpretations related to the binomial economy and the environment. Concepts and
explanations of the different approaches on the environmental crisis are used and exposed in
the work, which also marks the association of the environmental crisis with capitalism as a
criterion of relevance and theoretical validity of the different interpretations. The work is based
on general environmentalist and ecological visions associated with the Political Economy. The
literature review especially involved Marxist works by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus and
David Ricardo, while the leading authors of the classical school of economics, such as Ignacy
Sachs, the founder of the ecological economy, Nicholas Georgescu-Rogen, and numerous
documents of the United Nations and its agencies. The role and place of Marxism in the
ecological debate permeate all work. Financing of natural resources, theoretical discussions
about the relationship between nature, value and labor, contradictions of capitalism,
environmental conflicts, ecological debt and ecological imperialism and presentation of some
ideas about the alternatives we have to deal with the environmental crisis are themes that have
been of work.

The provision of water supply and sewage services is essential to the promotion of public health and the quality of life of a population, so the state plays a very important role in the management and regulation of these services. The state of Bahia, through Law 11,172 of December 1, 2008, set as a principle the strengthening of the Bahian Water and Sanitation Company (Embasa) with the objective of facilitating the state population's access to these services, in cooperation with municipalities, through program contracts. For this strengthening is necessary the economic-financial sustainability of the company. There is another important agent that is the Regulatory Agency of Basic Sanitation of the state of Bahia (Agersa), which has, among other roles, to make the tariff regulation that seeks to guarantee, besides other objectives, the economic-financial balance of the regulated. The tariff regulation model adopted is the cost of services and the aspects of water demand are not taken into account, such as the impacts of tariff variations on water consumption. Therefore, this dissertation aims to verify the implications of the analysis of the demand for residential water on the economic-financial balance in the provision of water supply and sewage services in the state of Bahia. The methodology was based on the econometric estimation of the demand function for residential water in the state of Bahia. The results indicate that the variables average water tariff, income, number of residents per economy, and the volume of water provided per economy affect the average residential consumption of effective water by economy in the municipalities of Bahia at a significance level of 5%. It is concluded that the average effective demand for residential water by the economy in the municipalities is inelastic, meaning that there is a relative insensitivity to changes in the average water tariff that can be measured by the price elasticity of demand that was approximately -0.67, which is compatible with economic theory and empirical literature. Tariff revisions with real tariff increases were one of the factors as of 2009 that, together with the decrease in the number of residents per economy since 2002, which to some extent contributed to the reduction of residential water consumption by economy. On the other hand, the fact that this demand was inelastic also helped to mitigate Embasa's difficulties in maintaining its economic and financial balance through increases in revenues. However, when residential water consumption falls below the minimum, the positive effects of price increases on revenues are mitigated. Tariff strategies can be used as a tool to manage water demand. They can lead to more efficient water consumption, as consumers respond to variations in the average water tariff. The tariff should reflect water scarcity.

This essay has as principal objective present the opportunities, impacts and challenges that Industry 4.0 brings to global and Brazilian automotive industry. It comes from the fact that the growing digitalization and connectivity of the economy and society is transforming the industry, especially the automaker which has been applying the concepts of referential Industry 4.0 in the world and in Brazil. Industry 4.0 represents the evolution of the industry for cyber-physical systems, where there is the connection of the digital media, enabling better collaboration and access between the entire production chain. The processing power of large amounts of data generated by equipment and sensors connected to the network is a key element of this industry and have created, along with a set of technologies and solutions, smart value chains and new business opportunities for the automotive industry. Understand what are the implications of the new industry technology trends and disruptive trends of Industry 4.0, allows understanding the new trajectory for economic and social development to be achieved by the companies of various countries, as well as their new level of competitiveness. That's because the auto industry is one of the most globalized and competitive in the world, always ahead in deploying innovative processes, one of the main movers of the macroeconomic growth and the technological advancement in developed and developing countries. In this scenario, the main problem of this dissertation is to identify the current condition of the Brazilian auto industry and discuss what are their main challenges for their inclusion in Industry’s 4.0 technological standard. The leading hypothesis defended in this thesis is that in the recent period Industry’s 4.0 changes demonstrate the strong technological dependence of the automakers installed in the country in relation to their headquarters, which do not stimulate sufficient investments in local research and development in strategic areas, negatively affecting their national competitiveness and making it difficult to enter the global markets. On the other hand, in relation to the auto parts sector, it is identified that in the recent period there has been a broad process of denationalization of the sector, which also provides an environment where the main investment decisions are concentrated in the countries of origin of these companies. Therefore, many of the difficulties and obstacles faced by automakers and auto parts companies in this new disruptive scenario are related to fragile technological development, precarious education, poor infrastructure, as well as the low innovative and digital culture of many
Brazilian companies. To that end, this essay highlights the importance of the Brazilian State in promoting policies and incentives that alter the economic and productive structure of the country, boosting investments in technology, science and innovation, leading the country to an inclusive technological and competitive development that does not inequalities in relation to other countries. One of the possible strategies is to implement policies that stimulate the automobile industry - automakers and auto parts - to have a more competitive external insertion, increasing the participation of exports as a destination of production and reducing the strong dependence on the intern market. This would require these companies to be more competitive in order to enter in new markets, making it imperative for these companies to expand their investments in the country, in particular in the development of Industry’s 4.0 technologies, directing resources for the construction of R&D centers and S&T in Brazil and further internalizing its decisions and production of more technology-intensive products.

Income contingent loans (ICLs) are a loan type insuring debtor against both temporary and lifetime low income, as amortisations vary in accord with fluctuations in income. With an appropriate implementation, income-contingency can make the most of the transactional efficiencies involved in the government monopoly in taxing personal income to implement wide loan systems to finance a variety of individuals’ needs. This thesis discusses the potentials for a broad ICL system to finance higher education studies in Brazil and simulates how such a system might look like. Simulations apply a simplified copula approach to account for mobility in the graduates’ earnings distribution. Repayment patterns are then simulated for time-based and income-contingent loan designs. The results enable the assessment of the fiscal and distributional implications related to various loan features: interest rates, repayment rates and thresholds, surcharges and cohort risk premiums. The best designs, in terms of affordability for graduates and size of taxpayer subsidies, involve income-contingency with surcharges on initial borrowings, interest rates at the government’s cost of borrowing upon graduation and above an initial threshold, and progressive repayment rates aligned with thresholds valid for taxing personal income. The results also provide an assessment of the potentials of recent reforms introducing incomecontingency to the Student Financing Fund (FIES), the large scheme financing fees in private institutions as well as in a reduced number of public higher education institutions that are permitted to charge fees in Brazil. Appropriate models of earnings dynamics are the key issue for research on the application and costing of higher education student financing schemes, so this thesis provides a very relevant contribution to ex ante evaluation of the pending but necessary reforms to finance further higher education expansion in Brazil, especially considering the additional constraints imposed on the government’s budget by the so-called spending freeze amendment.

The mineral extractive sector has been promoted since colonial times by the Colonial
Administration in order to cover the foreign debt of the Metropolis, until nowadays, by the
Brazilian State with the purpose of guaranteeing a favorable trade balance. Linked to the
neoliberal guideline of the favorable trade balance, the State uses the discourse of economic
development to foment and ratify mineral extraction. In this direction, the State makes clear
the stimulus to mining exploration in Mining Plans (1967, 1980, 1994 and 2011) and National
Plans of Development (1971, 1974, 1979, 1986). In Bahia, where the country's third largest
mineral exploration takes place, there are efforts to build a mineral policy, PEM 2035. In this
scenario, we highlight Jacobina - BA, a municipality in north-central Bahia, with the highest
collection of the Financial Compensation for the Exploration of Mineral Resources and the
site of the great gold exploration mining project of Jacobina Mineração e Comércio - Yamana
Gold, a Canadian transnational corporation. It is proposed to investigate the creation of state
conditions for mining activity as one of the main drivers of the country's economic
development, as well as to analyze and discuss the conflicts, resistances and confrontations
arising from the expansion of foreign mining capital in Jacobina - BA . Through a historical
survey of the mineral extractive sector and its temporal evolution in Brazil and Bahia from the
Colony to the present times and with the use of dialectical materialism, a case study was
carried out in Jacobina - BA, to understand, at the local level , the evictions provoked by large
mining projects. The study showed that the mining activity caused territorial expulsions in the
three traditional Communities (Canavieiras, Itapicuru and Jabuticaba) of the environment of
the Mineradora. It was verified that the mining activity does not bring the so propagated
economic development to Jacobina - BA but rather underdevelopment. It was observed that
besides the territorial domination and the nature, the Mining also exerts an economic control
in the Municipality. It was concluded that the expansion of the mining capital intensifies the
conflicts and even the resistances, but not the confrontations in Jacobina - BA.

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