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The Covid-19 pandemic had different impacts across the globe, according to both country structure and conjunctural responses from local governments. This article aims to characterize the main traits of capitalism in Brazil, with a focus on its evolution over the last 20 years and the way these characteristics shaped both the impacts of the pandemic and the responses to the so-called "Corona-crisis". The hypothesis is that the socioeconomic impacts of any world crisis tend to be higher in peripheral countries, but the government reactions to such crises are important in determining the socioeconomic dynamics that evolve. The analysis is attentive to the interactions between aspects which are inherent to the capitalist system, aspects related to the Brazilian colonial history and the resulting insertion of Brazil in the global economy, and aspects related to the Brazilian current context - in particular the socioeconomic and political crises since 2014, the coup d'état against President Dilma Rousseff in 2016 and the outbreak of the pandemic in a country governed from 2018 to 2022 by a far-right government. The main conclusions are that the pandemic provoked no major changes, but rather accelerated ongoing movements and deepened some old traits of the Brazilian economy, especially its vulnerability, its structural heterogeneities, the precariousness of the labor market and social inequalities.

This paper shows how bank-specific, industry-specific, and macroeconomic determinants affect the profitability of 3046 banks across 19 Euro area countries, from 2006 to 2015. To assess the existence of potentially relevant asymmetries, we split our sample of Euro area banks into peripheral and core countries’ banks. Our results reveal that, compared to banks from core countries, the marginal effect of the loan loss provisions burden on profitability is, on average, at least 3 times larger in peripheral banks where a 1 p.p. increase in loan loss provisions reduces return on average assets by 0.6 p.p. Moreover, the impact of loan loss provisions on profitability levels during the 2008–2013 financial crisis period is found to be significantly more severe in peripheral banks. Our results likewise suggest that the improvement of efficiency levels and a more selective asset growth have stronger effects on the returns of peripheral banks. In contrast, the effect of customer deposits suggests that core countries’ banks make better use of this source of funding. info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

UIDB/04209/2020 UIDP/04209/2020 Over the last decades, technological innovation became the new mantra in the Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) policy arena of the most different countries, including the world peripheries. By adopting a historical and global perspective, we identify in this article a scope of isomorphic pressures in the core elements of the policy process, which became increasingly evident, aligned with neoliberalism and the ideals of rationalization and bureaucratization: discursive and argumentative rationalities, primary goals definition, policy mechanisms, and legislation – all elements central to policy formulation and very similar across countries, independently of some degree of variation within national contexts. Therefore, one can observe that the reforms held in the STI policy arena of different Latin America and Iberian countries, to create an ‘innovation culture’ of entrepreneurship, are based on very similar discourses and incentives. In this piece, we conduct a conceptual discussion on the politics of STI given the realities and historical backgrounds of some peripheral countries – mainly Latin American ones, highlighting the relations between interests and their respective agency within STI’s complex policy process. publishersversion published

En el presente artículo se indaga teóricamente sobre el poder de los Estados más débiles en lo que respecta a las relaciones jerárquicas del sistema internacional. Esta cuestión se aborda primeramente a partir de una revisión de la literatura existente sobre los conceptos de autonomía y valor estratégico. Se advierte que, mientras que el primero ha sido ampliamente discutido en diversos círculos académicos, principalmente en América Latina; el segundo carece de reflexiones profundas a pesar de la íntima vinculación entre ambos y de su mención pasajera por parte de diversos autores. En función de esta vacancia temática, en el último apartado del artículo se reflexiona teóricamente sobre este concepto, su operacionalización mediante la identificación de sus distintos componentes, sus características y su relevancia. El mismo se aborda desde el marco teórico general del Realismo Periférico de Carlos Escudé. Se argumenta que el valor estratégico percibido de los países periféricos por parte de las grandes potencias resulta una variable condicional esencial para comprender estas relaciones asimétricas, siendo fundamental su incorporación en posteriores análisis empíricos que avancen sobre las mismas., This article explores theoretically the power that weaker States have in the hierarchical relations of the international system. This question is first addressed on the basis of a detailed literature review on the concepts of autonomy and strategic value. While the former has been widely discussed in various academic circles, mainly in Latin America; the latter lacks any in-depth reflections, despite the intimate link between the two and despite being mentioned by various authors. In view of this thematic gap, the last section of the article presents a theoretical reflection on this concept, its operationalization through the identification of its different components, its characteristics and its relevance. It is argued that the perceived strategic value of peripheral countries by the great powers is a fundamental conditional variable to understand such asymmetrical relations and that its incorporation in subsequent empirical analyses is essential., Instituto de Relaciones Internacionales

Авторы раскрывают три изменения в модели капитализма, которые привели к изменению базовых когнитивных функций человека и формированию когнитивного капитализма в начале тысячелетия. Эта модель злоупотребляет интегрированными в нее знаниями и функциями эмоций, чувств, присущих только человеческому существу. Она является угрозой существованию государствам и правительствам в привычном понимании, в результате подтвердилась глобальная функция интегрированных коммуникативных платформ и сетей, были оценены масштаб и качество массы с дефицитом когнитивных функций в сфере стран периферии и все страны оказались перед выбором: остаться перифериями или отделиться от владельца модели когнитивного капитализма, создать обеспечивающее себя бытие в первую очередь в сфере образования. Урок для современных РФ и КНР заключается в необходимости обособиться от США в области интегрированных коммуникаций, систем и сетей в политической, торговой и военной сферах, если они хотят сохранить свой суверенитет и шанс на долгосрочное существование на планете сообщества народов единой судьбы человечества. The authors reveal three changes in the model of capitalism that led to a change in basic human cognitive functions and the formation of cognitive capitalism at the beginning of the millennium. This model abuses the knowledge and functions of emotions and feelings integrated into it, which are inherent only in the human being. It is a threat to the existence of states and governments in the usual sense, as a result, the global function of integrated communication platforms and networks was confirmed, the scale and quality of the mass with a deficit of cognitive functions in the sphere of peripheral countries were evaluated, and all countries were faced with a choice: to remain peripheries or to separate from the owner of the model of cognitive capitalism to create a self-supporting existence primarily in the field of education. The lesson for the modern Russian Federation and China is the need to separate from the United States in the field of integrated communications, systems and networks in the political, commercial and military spheres, if they want to preserve their sovereignty and the chance for a long-term existence on the planet of a community of peoples of a single destiny of humanity.

Esta pesquisa objetiva analisar as diretrizes do Banco Mundial para a política educacional dos países periféricos, em particular a brasileira, enfatizando o processo de mercantilização da educação. Esse aprofundamento se deu a partir da compreensão do processo de mundialização do capital, da rearticulação do mundo trabalho, com a retomada da perspectiva do capital humano, a pedagogia das competências, as parcerias público-privadas nas várias esferas do ensino, do médio ao superior, são pontos que se entrecruzam e sustentam. A partir desse movimento se dá o processo de mundialização da educação devido à compreensão do ensino como uma mercadoria de interesse dos bancos e grandes empresas de investimento, tanto educacionais quanto financeiras, em que o BM está diretamente relacionado. Para adensamento do tema, foi realizada uma pesquisa bibliográfica e documental destacando sobre todos os relatórios do Banco Mundial, com ênfase nos anos de 1986, 1996, 2003, 2008 e o mais recente analisado, de 2017, que vem apontar algumas diretrizes para a educação nos países periféricos, em que o banco vem assumindo cada vez mais o seu caráter político, mediante formulação de sugestões e diretrizes acerca de diversas políticas sociais, ou seja, para além dos empréstimos, aponta os direcionamentos dos recursos a serem investidos. Esta dissertação é composta por três capítulos que se sustentam entre si. O primeiro aborda sobre o processo de mundialização do capital a partir da compreensão de sua fase atual do capitalismo monopolista imperialista. Nessa direção, se dá o movimento de financeirização e o surgimento do Banco Mundial. É destacado o processo de rearticulação das forças produtivas com referência no padrão de produção Fordista ao Toyotista, ao qual demonstra o período da acumulação flexível e mudanças no mundo do trabalho. Diante disso, é posto as principais referências políticas e econômicas que influenciam o mundo como um todo, como o consenso de Washington que trouxe consigo a implantação da política neoliberal. O segundo capítulo é sobre a adequação da política educacional brasileira aos interesses do capital, para tal compreensão foram feitos alguns apontamentos acerca da história e desenvolvimento da educação brasileira. Evidenciando o quanto as mudanças no mundo do trabalho influem na educação. A retomada do conceito de capital humano vem nesta direção, ao dar suporte às reformas que o Estado deveria implantar ao seguir o receituário do Banco Mundial e demais agências multilaterais. Portanto, a educação é posta como capacitação/qualificação para o mercado de trabalho atendendo a tais exigências, o qual acaba 10 por se transformar em uma mercadoria que está em constante valorização, trazendo à tona o processo de mundialização da educação. Porém, este não é um terreno neutro e implica que, para a efetivação destas rearticulações aos interesses do capital, há muita disputa interna devido a perspectivas que vão de encontro aos interesses da burguesia, consolidando-se cada vez mais, contra os interesses da classe trabalhadora. O terceiro e último buscará evidenciar as influências do Banco Mundial na política educacional a partir de seus relatórios. Iniciando pelo processo de mudança de direcionamento do banco para as políticas educacionais desde meados da década de 60 até a atualidade. A partir dos relatórios, pudemos comparar e perceber como as mudanças foram sendo implantadas na política educacional, bem como as últimas contrarreformas educacionais a nível médio e superior de ensino visando a mercantilização e privatização destes níveis de ensino. De acordo com os nossos estudos, podemos identificar uma tendência na adequação da política educacional proposta pelo Banco Mundial, em que se destaca a mercantilização e privatização do ensino médio e principalmente o superior, atendendo aos interesses do capital internacional e financeiro por meio de um discurso alicerçado de que o modelo vigente não atende às demandas de produção e de que é preciso reformar para melhorar com o fim último de garantir maiores possibilidades de acúmulo e controle ideológico do capital. This research aims to analyze the World Bank guidelines for the educational policy of the peripheral countries the Brazilian one, emphasizing the process of commercialization of education. This deepening came from the understanding of the process of capital globalization, the rearticulation of the world of work, with the resumption of the perspective of human capital, the pedagogy of competences, the public-private partnerships in the various spheres of education, from high school to high school. , are points that intersect and support each other. From this movement occurs the process of globalization of education due to the understanding of education as a commodity of interest to banks and large investment companies both educational and financial to which the BM is directly related. To deepen the theme, a bibliographic and documentary research was conducted, highlighting the World Bank reports, with emphasis on the years 1986,1996,2003, 2008 and the most recent analyzed, 2017, which points out some guidelines for the education in peripheral countries. In which the bank is increasingly assuming its political character through the formulation of suggestions and guidelines on various social policies, ie, beyond the loans points the direction of resources to be invested. This dissertation is composed of three supporting chapters, the first one deals with the process of capital globalization from the understanding of its current phase of imperialist monopoly capitalism. In this direction is the financialization movement and the emergence of the World Bank. The process of rearticulation of the productive forces with reference to the Fordist to the Toyotist production pattern is highlighted, which shows the period of flexible accumulation and changes in the world of work. Given this, the main political and economic references that influence the world, such as the Washington consensus that brought with it the implementation of neoliberal politics, are presented. The second chapter is about the adequacy of the Brazilian educational policy to the interests of the capital, for such understanding were made some notes about the history and development of the Brazilian education. By highlighting how changes in the world of work influence education, the resumption of the concept of human capital is moving in this direction, supporting the reforms that the state should implement following the prescription of the World Bank and other multilateral agencies. Therefore, education is presented as a qualification / qualification for the labor market meeting these requirements. Which eventually turns into a commodity that is in constant appreciation, bringing to light the process of globalization of 12 education. However, this is not a neutral ground and implies that for these rearticulations to be effected to the interests of capital there is much internal dispute over prospects that go against the interests of the bourgeoisie, increasingly consolidating themselves against the interests of the working class. The third and final attempt to highlight the Bank's influences on educational policy from its reports. Starting with the process of changing the bank's direction towards educational policies from the mid-1960s to the present. From the reports we were able to compare and understand how the changes were being implemented in the educational policy, as well as the last educational counter-reforms at the middle and higher level of education aiming at the commercialization and privatization of these levels of education. According to our studies, we can identify a trend in the adequacy of the educational policy proposed by the World Bank, which emphasizes the commercialization and privatization of secondary and especially higher education, meeting the interests of international and financial capital through a grounded discourse. that the current model does not meet the demands of production and that reform must be made to improve, with the ultimate aim of ensuring greater possibilities for capital accumulation and ideological control.

The purpose of the study is to examine the longitudinal trajectories of five selected South American countries in the period between 1990 and 2018, applying the Quintuple Helix Innovation Model (QHIM). The aim is to analyse the trends of each country through the relationship of its helices using indicators extracted from an international database in order to establish their articulation and synergies to go in search of sustainable development. Within this dynamic, Venezuela represents the axis country of the study and Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru make up the group that allows the comparison. The research focuses attention on two periods of Venezuelan politics since they allow measuring the variations of the countries under study. The base year is 1996 and is called the pre-Hugo Ch&aacute, vez Frias (HCF) period, the cutoff year for the comparison is 2014 and is called the post-HCF period. The study is longitudinal and descriptive. For the analysis, the five knowledge subsystems (helices) of the QHIM were redefined in order to have precise concepts, a database was designed based on World Bank indicators that were later thematically related to each of the helices. The interrelationships between the helices of each country were also specified in order to determine which were the weakest and which had the most positive or negative influence. In order to calculate the percentage variation of the countries, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method was applied. In this sense, the most relevant finding is related to the decisions made in the last twenty years from the political helix in Venezuela because it deactivated and disarticulated the others, causing that country to collapse.

This article explores the dual complexity brought about by China's global rise. It intends to conceptualize China's rise as having different implications andimpacts on different parts of the world. On the one hand, it may be argued that China is becoming an emerging counter-hegemonic social force to the “core” of the existing world order; while at the same time, it can also be seen as a new rising hegemon to the semi-peripheral and peripheral parts of the world order. This situation prompts the authors to examine the above dynamic and dialectic relationships. In line with the authors' analysis, as an emerging power, China is in a transitional junction from a world order that was dominated by conventional hegemony to a one that is increasingly shaped by interdependent hegemony. With its accumulated power and wealth brought about by its upgraded position in the world system, China's continuous rise is providing more “room for maneuver” and “upward mobility” to semi-peripheral and peripheralcountries.China as a “hegemon” must be understood not as a new member of the conventional “core”, but as a nation whose power is characterized by global relationship and relevance.

Dissertação de mestrado em Economia, A hipótese dos défices gémeos postula que o défice orçamental e o défice externo estão relacionados positivamente e a direção de causalidade verifica-se do primeiro para o segundo défice. A sua origem remonta à década de 80, nos Estados Unidos da América, quando o saldo orçamental e o saldo comercial se deterioraram de forma quase simultânea. Recentemente, com a crise financeira internacional e a crise da zona euro, os desequilíbrios internos e externos têm assumido uma importância crescente nas economias europeias, o que reacendeu o debate sobre os défices gémeos. Deste modo, este trabalho pretende analisar a relação causal entre o saldo orçamental e o saldo da balança corrente para os países fundadores da Área do Euro (incluindo a Grécia), dividindo-se a amostra em dois grupos de países: países centrais (Alemanha, Áustria, Bélgica, Finlândia, França, Holanda e Luxemburgo) e países periféricos (Espanha, Grécia, Irlanda, Itália e Portugal). Foram utilizados dados anuais, para o período 1995-2017, recorrendo ao Vetor Autorregressivo em painel, cujos os resultados são interpretados recorrendo aos testes de causalidade à Granger, funções de impulso resposta ortogonais e decomposição da variância do erro. Os resultados dos testes de causalidade à Granger, para os países centrais, sugerem fortemente a causalidade do saldo da balança corrente para o saldo orçamental. Nos países periféricos, os resultados sugerem a existência de influência bilateral entre os dois saldos, embora a causalidade do saldo da balança corrente para o saldo orçamental esteja mais fortemente evidenciada. Os resultados das funções de impulso resposta, em ambos os grupos de países, mostram que apenas o choque positivo no saldo da balança corrente leva a uma resposta positiva e estatisticamente significativa por parte do saldo orçamental, entre o 1º e o 8º período. Por último, a magnitude dos choques é analisada com a decomposição da variância do erro. Os resultados sugerem que, nos dois conjuntos de países, o impacto do saldo da balança corrente sobre o saldo orçamental é mais forte. Nos países centrais, o choque no saldo da balança corrente explica mais de 40% da variância do saldo orçamental entre o 9º e o 10º período. Nos países periféricos, o choque no saldo da balança corrente explica mais de 30% da variância do saldo orçamental entre o 5º e o 10º período., The twin deficits hypothesis postulates that the budget deficit and the external deficit are positively related and the causal relationship runs from the first to the second deficit. Its origin dates to the 80´s, in the United States of America, when the budget balance and the trade balance deteriorated almost simultaneously. Recently, with the global financial crisis and the Eurozone crisis, internal and external imbalances have taken on a growing importance in European economies, which has rekindled the debate on twin deficits. Thus, this work intends to analyze the causal relationship between the budget balance and the current account balance for the founding countries of the Eurozone (including Greece), dividing the sample into two groups of countries: core countries (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Netherlands and Luxembourg) and peripheral countries (Spain, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Portugal). Annual data were used for the period 1995-2017, using the Panel Vector Autoregressive, whose results are interpreted using the Granger causality tests, orthogonal impulse response functions and error variance decomposition. The results of the Granger causality tests, for the core countries, strongly suggest that the causality runs from the current account balance to the budget balance. In peripheral countries, the results suggest the existence of bilateral influence between the two balances, although the causality from current account balance to the budget balance is more strongly evidenced. The results of the impulse response functions, in both groups of countries, show that only the positive shock on the current account balance leads to a positive and statistically significant response of the budget balance, between the 1st and 8th period. Last of all, the magnitude of the shocks is analyzed with the error variance decomposition. The results suggest that, in the two groups of countries, the impact of the current account balance on the budget balance is stronger. In the core countries, the impact on the current account balance accounts for more than 40% of the budget balance variance between the 9th and 10th period. In the peripheral countries, the impact on the current account balance accounts for more than 30% of the budget balance variance between the 5th and 10th period.

Neste estudo analisamos os fatores específicos aos bancos, à indústria e à economia, que afetam a rentabilidade de 3.046 bancos da zona Euro entre 2006 e 2015. Para o efeito, dividimos a nossa amostra entre bancos dos países periféricos e dos países centrais e incluímos um número significativo de bancos não cotados, dado representarem a maioria dos bancos na União Europeia. Os nossos resultados confirmam a relevância das provisões de crédito, das receitas não decorrentes de juros, rácio de eficiência, crescimento do total dos ativos, parcela dos depósitos, crescimento do PIB e taxas de juro, como determinantes significativas da rentabilidade dos bancos da zona Euro, quando analisados em conjunto. A este respeito, uma vez atenuado o uso da política monetária menos convencional, que promoveu a existência de taxas de juro muito baixas por longo tempo, e encontrada uma solução para o problema Europeu do crédito vencido, espera-se que os lucros dos bancos sejam impulsionados. Inversamente, quando os bancos periféricos e dos países centrais são analisados em separado, encontramos efeitos assimétricos entre os grupos. O peso das provisões de crédito é, em média, pelo menos 3 vezes superior nos bancos periféricos. Similarmente, o impacto das provisões de crédito nos níveis de rentabilidade durante o período da crise financeira entre 2008 e 2013 foi significativamente agravado nos bancos periféricos. Por fim, verificamos que a melhoria dos níveis de eficiência e uma maior concentração bancária aumentam os lucros dos bancos periféricos. Em contrapartida, o efeito positivo dos depósitos de clientes sugere que os bancos dos países centrais fazem melhor uso desta fonte de financiamento. In this paper, we analyze how bank-specific, industry-specific and macroeconomic determinants affect the profitability of 3.046 banks across 19 Euro area countries, from 2006 to 2015. We split our sample of Euro area banks into peripheral and core countries’ banks and include a significant number of unlisted banks, as they represent most banks in the European Union. Our results confirm the relevance of loan loss provisions, non-interest income share, cost-toincome ratio, total assets growth rate, deposit funding share, GDP growth and interest rates as important drivers of banks’ profitability, when all Euro area banks are analyzed together. In this respect, once eased the unconventional monetary policy measures, which stimulated a low interest rates environment for a long time, and a solution for the European non-performing loans problem is found, banks’ returns are likely to boost. Conversely, when peripheral and core countries’ banks are separately assessed, we find an asymmetric effect of some components between both groups. The loan loss provisions burden is, on average, at least 3 times larger in peripheral banks. Similarly, the impact of loan loss provisions on profitability levels during the 2008-2013 financial crisis period was significantly more severe in peripheral banks. Finally, our results suggest that the improvement of efficiency levels and higher bank concentration increase the returns of peripheral banks. In contrast, the positive effect of customer deposits suggests that core countries’ banks make better use of this source of funding.