Dia: outubro 31, 2007

brasil · história econômica · rent-seeking

Excelente artigo

claudio1 comentário

Rent Seeking and the Unveiling of ‘De Facto’ Institutions: Development and Colonial Heritage within BrazilJoana Naritomi, Rodrigo R. Soares, Juliano J. Assunção

NBER Working Paper No. 13545
Issued in October 2007
NBER Program(s): EFG

—- Abstract —–

This paper analyzes the roots of variation in de facto institutions, within a constant de jure institutional setting. We explore the role of rent-seeking episodes in colonial Brazil as determinants of the quality of current local institutions, and argue that this variation reveals a de facto dimension of institutional quality. We show that municipalities with origins tracing back to the sugar-cane colonial cycle — characterized by a polarized and oligarchic socioeconomic structure — display today more inequality in the distribution of land. Municipalities with origins tracing back to the gold colonial cycle — characterized by an over-bureaucratic and heavily intervening presence of the Portuguese state — display today worse governance practices and less access to justice. The colonial rent-seeking episodes are also correlated with lower provision of public goods and lower income per capita today, and the latter correlation seems to work partly through worse institutional quality at the local level.

economia · Gary Becker

Aposto que Paul Krugman, em breve, fará outro artigo ruim criticando Becker

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Congratulations to my friend and colleague Gary Becker who will receive the 2007 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. He’ll have to find a place in his trophy cabinet, which already has a Nobel Prize, a National Medal of Science, the John Bates Clark Medal, and sixteen honorary doctorates.

No economist of Becker’s generation has had such a profound influence both inside and outside the profession. It is worth noting that when he first began doing some of his seminal research many years ago, on subjects like marriage and racism, he was looked down upon in the profession for straying too far outside the lines of what was considered normal, worthwhile research.

O trecho acima está aqui.