Herick Fernando Moralles

Technological innovation for sustainable development: an analysis of different types of impacts for countries in the BRICS and G7 groups

Technological innovation is considered as being one of the major driving forces in fostering economic growth. However, in the current economic situation, where matters related to environmental protection and conservation play a key role, technological innovation can also be used as a driver of new production alternatives to reduce the harmful impacts of industrial development on society and nature. Within this context, this paper aims to analyze, through econometric tools, the relationship between investments in technological innovation and the sustainable development of G7 and BRICS countries. The results demonstrate that for the BRICS group, technological innovation has been significant for the three pillars of sustainable development. However, for the G7 group, technological innovation was considered significant only for social development, showing no statistical significance for economic and environmental development. The results indicate that technological innovation can cause different types of impacts, depending on the development stage of the analyzed country or region.

Transportation Infrastructure and Economic Growth Spillovers

The present study aims to analyze the spatial spillover effects of transportation infrastructures on the economic growth in Brazilian states through the application of a spatial econometric technique (Spatial Durbin Model). The results demonstrate that road infrastructure has the greatest impact on economic growth, and that the spatial unit neighboring highways are most relevant to their growth than their own infrastructure. Still, some infrastructures showed insignificant or negative spillovers.

Innovative Spillovers and Efficiency in the Brazilian Industry

Given that a fraction of the output is not explained by variations in traditional inputs, public innovative spillovers effects may represent important implications on industrial efficiency. This study aims to identify the factors and characteristics that determine the technical efficiency of the Brazilian industry, using the DEA and logistic regression model. The results pointed that investments in non-traditional inputs are efficiency drivers. Regarding to public investments and technological intensity, no innovative spillover effects were found to contribute to technical efficiency for the analyzed Brazilian industries.

O Impacto da Crise de Crédito de 2008 no Setor Sucroenergético: Um Estudo Econométrico

O setor sucroenergetico contribuiu com, aproximadamente, 2% do Produto Interno Bruto brasileiro, alem de gerar mais de 600 mil empregos em cerca de mil municipios. Considerando a relevância desse setor, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo determinar as principais variaveis que impactam o crescimento do setor sucroenergetico brasileiro. Para isso, foram utilizadas tecnicas econometricas que quantificaram o impacto de cada variavel estudada no crescimento do Produto Interno Bruto desse setor, entre 1980 e 2013. Foi realizada tambem uma analise do impacto da crise de credito de 2008 no seu crescimento. Os resultados indicam que as variaveis que impactam o crescimento do setor sucroenergetico sao: taxa de câmbio, consumo de alcool carburante e preco medio do barril de petroleo. Alem disso, verificou-se que a crise de 2008 contribuiu negativamente para o seu PIB. Ademais, verificou-se que a crise nesse setor teve origem com o otimismo do setor, devido ao grande crescimento dele em 2006 e aos fatores globais no ano de 2008. Isso se refletiu nas variaveis estudadas, como taxa de câmbio e o consumo de alcool carburante, que acabaram por impactar negativamente o crescimento desse setor.