Vladimir Pinheiro Ponczek

New Evidence of the Causal Effect of Family Size on Child Quality in a Developing Country

This paper presents new evidence of the causal effect of family size on child quality in a developing-country context. We estimate the impact of family size on child labor and educational outcomes among Brazilian children and young adults by exploring the exogenous variation of family size driven by the presence of twins in the family. Using the Brazilian Census data for 1991, we find that the exogenous increase in family size is positively related to labor force participation for boys and girls and to household chores for young women. We also find negative effects on educational outcomes for boys and girls and negative impacts on human capital formation for young female adults. Moreover, we obtain suggestive evidence that credit and time constraints faced by poor families may explain the findings.

Segmentation In The Brazilian Labor Market

This article measures the degree of segmentation in the Brazilian labor market. Controlling for observable and unobservable characteristics, workers earn more in the formal sector, which supports the segmentation hypothesis. We break down the degree of segmentation by socioeconomic attributes to identify the groups where this phenomenon is more prevalent. We also investigate the robustness of our findings to the inclusion of self-employed individuals.

Child labor and learning

This paper investigates the impact of working while in school on learning outcomes through the use of a unique micro panel dataset of Brazilian students. The potential endogeneity is addressed through the use of di erence-in-di erence and instrumental variable estimators. A negative e ect of working on learning outcomes in both math and Portuguese is found. The e ects of child work range from 3% to 8% of a standard deviation decline in test score which represents a loss of about a quarter to a half of a year of learning on average. We also explore the minimum legal age to entry in the labor market to induce an exogenous variation in child labor status. The results reinforce the detrimental e ects of child labor on learning. Additionally, it is found that this e ect is likely due to the interference of work with the time kids can devote to school and school work.

Evaluating the wage differential between public and private sectors in Brazil

This paper uses a rotating panel of households to analyze wage differentials between public and private sectors in Brazil. Focusing on the transition of individuals between jobs available in the public and private sectors and controlling for individual time invariant characteristics, we find evidence of small wage differentials in favor of the public sector.

Efeitos da divisão municipal na oferta de bens públicos e indicadores sociais

Este artigo busca avaliar os efeitos da secessao de diversos municipios ocorrida no Brasil durante as ultimas duas decadas, periodo que sucedeu a promulgacao da constituicao de 1988, sobre a oferta de bens publicos e indicadores sociais destes municipios. Consideramos o comportamento da provisao dos seguintes bens e servicos publicos - coleta de lixo, rede esgoto e iluminacao – e nos seguintes indicadores sociais – renda percapita, indice de desenvolvimento humano (IDH), anos de escolaridade, taxa de analfabetismo e indice gini de desigualdade de renda. Ao compararmos municipios que se dividiram com os que nao se dividiram antes e depois do periodo da secessao, usando dados dos censos de 1991 e 2000, encontramos um efeito negativo da divisao municipal sobre esses indicadores. Especificamente, encontramos uma reducao de mais de 1 ponto percentual na provisao de coleta de lixo, esgotamento sanitario e eletrificacao; reducao na escolaridade media em torno de 0,16 anos; aumento de mais de 1 ponto percentual no analfabetismo para os municipios que se dividiram em relacao aos que nao se dividiram; queda na renda percapita de cerca de R

Institutions and economic volatility: democracy versus risk of expropriation

6; e queda no IDH por volta de 0,007. Os resultados sugerem a existencia de ganhos de escala na provisao de bens publicos municipais.

Informality in an economy with active labour courts

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to decompose the effects of democracy and risk of expropriation on economic volatility. Design/methodology/approach - The authors follow Acemouglu Findings - The authors present empirical evidence that the economic performance of more centralized former European colonies is not more volatile than that of democratic ones, once the exogenous variation of expropriation risk across countries is included in the model Originality/value - The paper investigates the role of a spectrum of different institutions on economic stability. In this sense, the paper contributes to the literature analyzing the effect of property-rights protection, as measured by a risk-of-expropriation index, on the relation between democracy and economic stability.

FATORES ASSOCIADOS AO FLUXO ESCOLAR NO INGRESSO E AO LONGO DO ENSINO MÉDIO NO BRASIL

ABSTRACT Job regulations and the justice branch interfere on several aspects of labour contracts. We build a model which explores the role of labour courts on the wage distribution in both formal and informal sectors. We obtain that the presence of active labour courts produces a negative relation between the wage gap and the productivity of the worker, a regularity documented in the empirical literature. Active labour courts also reduce informality of unskilled workers but do not have an impact on informality of skilled workers. Some elements and implications of our model are tested using Brazilian data.