Ari Francisco de Araujo Junior

Economia política da disputa por terras em Minas Gerais

The article analyzes the determinants of the probability of dispute over land conflicts, occupations and settlement projects) in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Through the use of a logic model, we found that the main influences are political and economical ones. Apparently, the behavior of the agrarian reform’s supporters follows the political incentive, with fewer occurrences of conflicts in towns governed by political allies. By other hand, the economical determinants - degree of poverty and the economic growth - have negative impacts on it.

Dê-me segurança ou lhe dou um não: em busca do eleitor mediano no referendo das armas

On October 23, 2005, the Brazilian society faced a referendum with two options: “to not ban the legal market for firearms” and “to ban the legal market for firearms”. Voters chose the first option. Along the months before the voting day, two interest groups were formed: one, called “No” – arguing for not banning the market – and the other group, called “Yes” – for the ban. This article has two main objectives: first, to analyze the arguments of each group using an analytical model and, two, to identify the determinants of the voter’s choice using data at the local level. The main results indicate that the votes for No were negatively correlated to the homicide rate (measured in 2002) and positively correlated with the marginal change of the homicide rate (between 1995 and 2002. Thus, cities in which the violence increases more quickly, the citizens did not choose to ban the legal market for firearms.