Sueli Moro

A nova configuração regional brasileira e sua geografia econômica

The aim of this paper is to identify the new regional pattern of the Brazilian economy by defining its economic poles and their areas of polarization, which will provide an economic regionalization for Brazil. The methodological tools to assign this objective will be an adapted version of the gravitational model using the Geographic Information System - GIS. This procedure will allow the identification of the influence areas for each regional pole, based on the potential interaction among the spatial units and their hierarchy in terms of economic power of attraction. The microregion of the Brazilian Statistics Bureau (IBGE) will be the spatial unit of this study, which will rely on microdata of the 1991 Demographic Census. The digital cartographic base is the Brazilian Municipal Digital Network converted into the MapInfo. The results will provide a hierarchical spatial structure of macro regions, mesoregions, microregions, and municipalities. In addition, we will make a basic economic characterization of the regions related to their agglomeration capability and economic activities.

Estimates of trade effects of Portugal's and Spain's entry to the European union

SummaryThe paper first analyses the consequences of the entry of the two countries to the E.U. in 1986. We find that both now trade relatively more with each other but that, while Spains trade with the E.U. and Portugals import from the E.U. soared, Portugals export to the E.U. stagnated in relative terms. We try to explain this phenomenon. We also find quite a lot of trade diversion as a consequence of the entries - from Northern as well as from Southern countries. We finally try to find evidence for theories of trade: there is little to say for intra-industry trade while comparative cost theories are sometimes vindicated in their static guise.

Déficits gêmeos e taxa de câmbio real

A consensus has not yet emerged about the relationship between budget deficit, external deficit and national saving. According to mainstream economic literature, the budget deficit can cause an insufficiency of national saving for a given investment rate. In such cases, the investment rate will not be reduced if foreign saving is absorbed, thus causing an external deficit. This is the twin deficits hypothesis. This study seeks to test the hypothesis that the budget deficit causes a external deficit because it causes the appreciation of the real exchange rate. This paper concludes that there is no regular causal relationship between budget deficits and external deficits. This conclusion is empirically conformed by means of estimating a panel data model for 35 countries during the 1991-2000 period.