Reynaldo Fernandes

Rising human capital but constant inequality: the education composition effect in Brazil

Este artigo examina o impacto da composicao educacional da forca de trabalho e dos retornos a educacao sobre a dispersao dos salarios dos homens no Brasil nos ultimos 20 anos. Ele aplica uma regressao quantilica sobre um polinomio de idade, tendencia e interacoes usando dados das PNADs entre 1977 e 1997. Os resultados indicam que o aumento da escolaridade da populacao brasileira ainda nao provocou uma queda da desigualdade porque as mudancas na composicao educacional contribuiram para um aumento da desigualdade. As simulacoes indicam que o efeito de composicao vai contribuir para uma queda substancial da desigualdade no futuro proximo.

The Entry of the Wife into the Labor Force in Response to the Husband's Unemployment: A Study of the Added Worker Effect in Brazilian Metropolitan Areas

The temporary participation in the labor force of wives whose husbands have become unemployed has been referred to in the literature as the “added worker effect” (AWE). Previous research conducted using data from the United States has found only a small AWE, a result that accords with life cycle models with perfect capital markets. The current article uses panel data obtained using a short recall period to evaluate the AWE in the six major Brazilian metropolitan areas. Our results show a positive AWE that is much more substantial than those found for the U.S. economy. The finding of an important AWE for Brazil suggests that liquidity constraints may prevent Brazilian households from sufficiently smoothing income and consumption in periods when the male head of the family is unemployed. Alternatively, the significant AWE may indicate that the husband’s unemployment signals household members that there may be a substantial reduction in future income flow.