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This study investigates the effect of interlocking directorates on national and international mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Brazil. Based on a sample of 153 large Brazilian firms in a time series (2000–2015), and using network techniques and regression analysis, this study addresses the hypothesis: board interlocking reduces the asymmetry of information in M&A, leading companies with a greater number of ties (degree centrality) to be more likely to participate in M&A. The results show that firms that have a larger number of ties with other firms through board interlocks (higher degree centrality) are more likely to perform M&A. Other network measures (closeness, eigenvector, betweenness, and structural holes) have no significant impact on the likelihood to participate in M&A. This study examines the impact of board interlocking on firms' propensity to undertake M&A while controlling for financial, corporate governance, and country-level governance variables in the explanatory model. This paper also contributes by identifying the determinants of M&A performed by companies headquartered in emerging countries such as Brazil, a major participant in M&A processes at the international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The research aims to propose a methodology to estimate the reliability of the Brazilian airport network (domestic passenger traffic), based on the centrality of airports (Network Theory). Design/methodology: The applied methodologies are related to Network Theory, a branch of Graph Theory, and reliability. Reliability is associated with the good functioning of a product or system, the absence of breaks or failures in each period and the environmental conditions of use of the item. The data used refer to the period 2000-2018 and were obtained from the sector's regulatory body in Brazil. The study allows to estimate the reliability of the airport network, based on the centrality of airports (Network Theory). Findings: The results allow airports to be classified into three groups: adequate context, worrying context and critical context, thus signalling airports that may stop operating regular domestic traffic. Research limitations/implications: The study does not aim to overlap or replace conventional analyses, recognized by the results, and applied over time. However, to present a new tool that allows the monitoring and preliminary analysis of airport networks, mainly domestic and regional networks, signalling to airport operators, regulators, and airlines the need for intervention (measures to reverse the trend) in the network, thus allowing, economic development and equitable access to all regions. Originality/value: The proposal of a complementary methodology based on the centrality of airports to analyze operational continuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article examines the centrality of Brazil within the future of climate policy and politics. The state of the carbon sink of the Amazon rainforest has long been an iconic marker of the condition of the Earth. Brazil has been innovative in developing many non-carbon forms of energy generation and use and it has played a major role in international debates on global warming since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. We examine various ways in which climate change has come to be centrally important in Brazilian public opinion. Survey evidence shows that Brazilians are the most concerned about issues of climate change – with less climate change scepticism as compared with more ‘advanced’ societies. Through using techniques of corpus linguistics we examine how Brazilian media has engendered and stabilized such a high and striking level of climate change concern. We show that the media helped to fix a ‘climate change framing’ of recent often strange weather. The article analyses the newly constructed Brazilian Corpus on Climate Change, presenting data on a scale and reach that is unique in this area of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study introduces a new measure of urban centrality. The proposed urban centrality index ( UCI) constitutes an extension to the spatial separation index. Urban structure should be more accurately analyzed when considering a centrality scale (varying from extreme monocentricity to extreme polycentricity) than when considering a binary variable (monocentric or polycentric). The proposed index controls for differences in size and shape of the geographic areas for which data are available, and can be calculated using different variables such as employment and population densities, or trip generation rates. The properties of the index are illustrated with simulated artificial data sets and are compared with other similar measures proposed in the existing literature. The index is then applied to the urban structure of four metropolitan areas: Pittsburgh and Los Angeles in the United States; São Paulo, Brazil; and Paris, France. The index is compared with other traditional spatial agglomeration measures, such as global and local Moran's I, and density gradient estimations. El presente estudio introduce una nueva medida de centralidad. El índice de centralidad urbana propuesto (UCI, por sus siglas en inglés) es una extensión al índice de separación espacial ( spatial separation index)(Midelfart-Knarvik et al. 2000). El análisis de la estructura urbana resulta más preciso al usar el índice cuando se toma en cuenta una escala de continua de centralidad (que puede variar de un monocentrismo extremo a un policentrismo extremo) que cuando se considera una variable binaria (monocéntrica o policéntrica). El índex propuesto controla las diferencias de tamaño y forma de las áreas geográficas de las que se tienen datos, y puede ser calculada utilizando diferentes variables, como empleo y densidad poblacional, o tasas de generación de viajes. Las propiedades del índice se ilustran con conjuntos de datos artificiales simulados, y se comparan con otras mediciones similares en la literatura ya existente. Posteriormente, el índice es aplicado a la estructura urbana de cuatro áreas metropolitanas: Pittsburgh y Los Ángeles, en EEUU; San Pablo, en Brasil; y París, Francia. Finalmente, se compara el índice con otras mediciones tradicionales de aglomeración espacial, como el índice de Moran local y global, y estimaciones de gradiente de densidad. 本文介绍了一种度量城市中心性的新方法，提出的城市中心性指数（UCI）是对空间分离指数的扩展。当涉及到中心性规模（从极单中心到极多中心），不仅仅是二元变量（单中心或多中心），城市结构则需更加精确的测度。本文构建的指数可以通过数据可获取的不同大小和形状的地理单元控制，并通过不同变量（如就业与人口密度或者旅次产生率）测算得到。该指数的属性可以通过人工数据集的模拟示例说明，或者通过对比已有文献对相似指数的阐述加以说明。然后，通过将该指数应用于全球四个大都市区（美国匹兹堡和洛杉矶、巴西圣保罗和法国巴黎）的城市结构中进行检验。最后，将该指数与其他测度传统空间集聚指数如全局和局部Moran指数及密度梯度估计进行对比. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]