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Does gross or net debt matter for long‐term sovereign spreads in emerging markets? The topic is important for understanding the borrowing cost implications of public asset–liability management decisions (e.g., using assets to lower debt). We investigate this question using data on emerging market economies (EMEs) over the period 1998–2014. We find that both gross debt and assets have a significant impact on long‐term sovereign bond spreads in emerging markets, with effects roughly offsetting each other (coefficients of opposite sign and similar magnitude). Hence, net debt seems more appropriate than gross debt when evaluating the impact of indebtedness on spreads. The empirical results suggest that an increase in net debt by 10 percentage points of GDP implies an increase in the spread by 100–120 basis points, and the effect is larger during periods of domestic distress. The key results from this empirical study are quite robust to alternative specifications and subgroups of EMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the decline of the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, a global leader in watching tropical forests from space. The relentless attacks by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a faltering economy, and shifting political priorities have led to steep cuts in funding for science. The institute has also seen a reduction in research personnel over the past two decades as researchers retired with no one to replace them.

This paper investigates the relationship between international trade and inequality in Brazilian municipalities, distinguishing them by the quality of local institutions. It departs from the theoretical hypothesis of a reinforcing relationship between inequality and quality of institutions. The related literature shows that initial conditions of inequality shape the gradual evolution of institutions over time, while institutions also determine current inequality. I apply micro data from the 2000 and 2010 Brazilian censuses combined with data on international trade at the municipal level. Focusing on a unique political regime facilitates analysis of the direct influence of institutional quality on the international trade-inequality nexus. The empirical analysis regresses municipal Gini index on municipal exports and imports for two subsamples of the available data, representing municipalities with weak institutions and municipalities with strong institutions, according to two specific institutional variables. The first variable measures the distance to a labor court of a given municipality, and the second variable measures the municipal concentration of resources, represented by land Gini. I find that only municipal exports robustly reduce inequality and the magnitude of reduction is higher in municipalities with strong institutions than in those with weak institutions, which is in line with a redistributive aptitude associated with the quality of institutions. If exports increase 10%, Gini reduces by 0.00756 points in municipalities with low distance to justice, while the effect of exports on Gini is not significantly different from zero in municipalities with high distance to justice. An increase of 10% in exports reduces the Gini index in 0.00548 point in municipalities with high concentration of land, and reduces the Gini index in 0.00905 point in municipalities with low concentration of land. The empirical results show that exports reduce inequality to a greater extent in places with relatively strong institutions, predominantly located in the south, that already present a lower level of inequality than northern municipalities. Thus, exports exacerbate inequality between regions. For this reason, policy implications of exports-inequality nexus are quite limited regarding the reduction of inequality between regions. For this proposal, it would be desirable a factor that could reduce inequality in regions with higher levels of inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial perspective attempts to explain the recent rise of Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency in Brazil and to characterise, at least in a preliminary fashion, the nature of the new regime one year into Bolsonaro's rule. The core argument is that Bolsonaro represents a weak and internally-fragmented far-right regime, with unenthusiastic and declining popular support. Dominant sections of international and domestic capital operating in Brazil lent Bolsonaro electoral backing as a last way out of economic and political crisis, but so far, the new government has failed in sufficiently guaranteeing their most important interests and the markets are withdrawing approval. Themes covered include the political paralysis of the new regime, the social bases of Bolsonarismo, the nature of the current state–capital relation, and the role of evangelical Pentecostalism in far-right Brazilian politics today. A biographical portrait of Bolsonaro is provided, alongside a mapping of the dominant factions of the new administration. Finally, an assessment of the economic outlook in Brazil is developed, together with speculation as to the likely political consequences in the short- to medium-term future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Subsistence hunting is crucial for Amazonian culture and local food security. • Subsistence hunting occupies a controversial legal status in Brazil. • A regulatory framework for subsistence hunting is urgent in Brazil. • Wildlife co-management is imperative to promote subsistence hunting rights. Abstract Subsistence hunting is an important cultural activity and a major source of dietary protein and other products for indigenous and non-indigenous populations throughout Amazonia. Nonetheless, subsistence hunting occupies an uncertain legal status in Brazil, leaving many traditional and rural Amazonian populations subject to arbitrary interpretation and enforcement of contradictory laws. The Brazilian Wildlife Protection Act of 1967, which helped to stem the slaughter of wild animals for the international hide market, made the hunting of all wild animals illegal. Later, only indigenous peoples had their rights to hunting explicitly recognized in Brazilian laws. Exceptions for other traditional and rural populations were then introduced, allowing subsistence hunters to own and license guns and hunt with them in a "state of necessity" or "to quench hunger" through the Brazilian Disarmament Statute and Environmental Crimes Law. These legal inconsistences mean that there is no single regulatory framework for subsistence hunting in Brazil. This scenario of uncertainties jeopardizes the establishment of consistent sustainable hunting management practices across Brazilian indigenous lands, sustainable use reserves and agrarian reform settlement areas. This article analyzes the relevant legislation and examines evidence from key studies with a view towards implementing robust, scientifically informed and practically feasible co-management strategies for indigenous and sustainable use reserves in the Brazilian Amazon. By focusing on subsistence rights, food sovereignty and organizational autonomy as guaranteed in international agreements ratified in Brazil, the framework presented here involves empowerment and technical training of local people in Amazonia to monitor and manage their own resource base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights key issues that affected that lives of indigenous peoples in Brazil in 2018. They include the demarcation of indigenous lands, political and economic developments under the administration of President Michel Temer, and the continued threats to the rights of indigenous peoples and quilombolas.

Compared to the rest of the world, farmers in Brazil rely relatively little on tenant contracts. In agriculture, career mobility is associated with moving up the agricultural ladder from working for wages to renting to owning (Alston, L.J., and J.P. Ferrie. 2005. “Time on the Ladder: Career Mobility in Agriculture,” 1890-1938 The Journal of Economic History 65(04): 1058–1081. Cambridge University Press). Alone, this fact may not present a puzzle, but coupled with the large number of landless peasants and large amounts of unused land, the question is, Why don't landowners with unused or underutilized land negotiate land rental contracts with the landless.? In Brazil, this avenue for advancement has been hurt by a reluctance of owners to rent in areas experiencing land conflict. The lack of rentals is an important issue because Brazil is geographically a large country, roughly the size of the continental United States and has an expanding agricultural frontier, some of which is cutting into the Amazon. If the lack of land rentals is pervasive across Brazil and also signals inefficiency in production, the total magnitude is likely to be large when summed across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Brazil's democratic erosion over the last four years, under President Michel Temer's reign. Topics discussed include the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff in August 2016, Temer's decision to lower the minimum wage for 2018, and similar reversals that occurred in gender equality, health, and education. Also discussed is the imprisonment of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2018, despite the absence of material evidence against him.

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This paper aims to contribute to knowledge on start-up cluster development by describing the core resource configurations in the development trajectory of start-up clusters in an emergent country. This research involves two start-up clusters in the Brazilian context. The results provide a framework formed by four stages that indicates the trajectory of start-up cluster development from the basic level, in which the most evident resources are tangible and endogenous, to the more advanced level, which comprises intangible and exogenous resources. In the fourth stage, start-up clusters improve resources, such as quality of life, cultural diversity and political and economic conditions to foster entrepreneurship and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses several aspects of economic and political crisis being faced by Brazilian democracy. It mentions that Brazil is political corruption and fiscal irresponsibility driven by the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) political party in Brazil. It also mentions about impeachment of former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff . It also mentions national patrimony orchestrated by former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso in Brazil.

This paper examines the impact of both bank-based and market-based financial development on economic growth in Brazil during the period from 1980 to 2012. To incorporate all of the aspects of financial development into the regression analysis, the study employs a method of means-removed average to construct both bank-based and market-based financial development indices. Based on the ARDL approach, the empirical results show that there is a positive relationship between market-based financial development and economic growth in Brazil in the long run, but not in the short run. The results also show that bank-based financial development in Brazil does not have a positive effect on economic growth. This applies irrespective of whether the regression analysis is conducted in the short run, or in the long run. The study, therefore, concludes that it is the stock market, rather than banking sector development, that drives long-run economic growth in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the most recent experiment of the state-led development approach in Brazil, and reveal some of its merits and shortcomings in the light of the current difficulties of the country. Using institutional and political economy approach we argue that under the Lula administration (2003- 2010) a special economic policy mix has emerged, which although maintained some continuity with both the old Brazilian developmental state and the neoliberal reform period, can be regarded as a new model of developmental state (DS) in Brazil. The way how Brazil has achieved pro-poor and inclusive growth since the Millennium offers useful lessons for other emerging and developing countries. At the same time, economic and social processes of the last 4-5 years have highlighted the fragility of the new Brazilian developmental state model and finally led to its dismantling (while even raising questions whether it can be regarded as a DS at all). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to evaluate the economic impacts of greenhouse gas emission reduction on the Brazilian economy. To this end, we developed an integrated input–output linear programming model for 2009 using the Supply and Use Tables and emissions data of the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology and Innovation. We simulated emissions targets for various potential scenarios in which the adopted policy design took account of sectoral composition in terms of emissions and available production technology. The results were directly affected by the high level of livestock emissions, counterbalancing this sector’s economic importance for Brazil. In the short term, sectoral emissions targets associated with taxation policy or emission permits could be developed in order to create private incentives to mitigate emissions. In this sense, the results also show that different sectoral targets may be able to balance environmental benefits with the possible economic losses incurred by such policies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]