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Income-related inequality in the use of medical and dental health care is gradually declining in Brazil. The decline is associated with implementation of pro-equity policies and programs, such as the Community Health Agents Program and the Family Health Program.

Quality of municipal public spending on primary education in Brazil. The focus of this paper was to analyze the relationship between municipal public education spending and students' academic achievement, evaluated according to IDEB (Index of Basic Education Development) of 2005. The following databases were used: School Census 2005, Brazil Exam (mathematics evaluation applied to students from fourth grade of elementary school) and Finance of Brazil (FINBRA). A multilevel model was estimated and the results suggest that simply increasing the percentage of municipal expenditures on education or the percentage of spending on primary education in relation to municipal expenditures on education do not automatically guarantee improvements in the quality of education.Keywords: municipal public expenditure on primary education; efficiency; economics of education; Brazil.JEL Classification: H52; I28; C21. INTRODUçãOO debate a respeito da efetividade dos recursos aplicados nas instituições de ensino teve como importante marco o ano de 1966 quando foi divulgado nos Estados Unidos um relatório intitulado Equality of Educational Opportunity, que ficou conhecido como "Coleman Report". Revista de Economia Política, vol 32, nº 1 (126), pp 128-141, janeiro-março/2012 * Departamento de Economia da Faculdade de Economia e Administração da Universidade de SãoPaulo. E-mail: madmdiaz@usp.br. Este trabalho foi resultado de projeto realizado pela Fipe para o ETCO -Instituto Brasileiro de Ética Concorrencial. Agradeço os comentários e críticas dos participantes de seminário de discussão dos resultados do projeto realizado na FEA/USP, especialmente aos Profs. André F. Montoro Filho e Hélio Zylberstajn. Sou grata, ainda, a dois pareceristas anônimos da Revista de Economia Política. Eventuais erros e omissões do texto são, entretanto, de exclusiva responsabilidade da autora. Submetido: 7/setembro/2008; Aprovado: 18/junho/2010.

This study evaluated whether processing non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and establishing trade partnerships between forest communities and companies enhance the outcomes of NTFP commercialization. In particular, we evaluated whether product processing, partnerships, or their combination was associated with a number of outcomes related to the well-being of forest inhabitants and forest conservation. We based our analyses on ethnographic and quantitative data (i.e., survey and systematic observations) gathered at seven communities from five societies of the Brazilian and Bolivian Amazon. Our results indicated that product processing and partnerships do not represent a silver bullet able to improve the results of NTFP commercialization in terms of well-being and conservation indicators. Compared with cases without interventions, households adopting partnerships but not product processing were most often associated with improved economic proxies of well-being (total income, NTFP income, food consumption and gender equality in income). In comparison, the combination of product processing and partnerships was associated with similar outcomes. Unexpectedly, product processing alone was associated with negative outcomes in the economic indicators of well-being. All of the investigated strategies were associated with less time spent in social and cultural activities. With respect to forest conservation, the strategies that included a partnership with or without processing produced similar results: while household deforestation tended to decrease, the hunting impact increased. Processing alone was also associated with higher levels of hunting, though it did not reduce deforestation. Our results indicate that establishing partnerships may enhance the outcomes of NTFP trade in terms of the financial outcomes of local communities, but practitioners need to use caution when adopting the processing strategy and they need to evaluate potential negative results for indicators of social and cultural activities. With respect to conservation, the three strategies are promising for reducing deforestation, but more pervasive impacts, such as hunting, might increase.

This study aims to investigate the factors that affect the market exit of Brazilian singular credit unions from 1995 to 2009; it also identifies and lists the determinants of various types of market exits and analyzes whether profitability is a significant factor for credit union survival. This study was conducted with accounting data provided by the Central Bank of Brazil, which derives only from individual cooperatives, i.e. singular credit unions. Quarterly financial statements from these credit unions that were active from 1995 to the second quarter of 2009 were employed, totaling 71,325 observations for 1,929 credit unions. Based on survival and the model of competing risks (such as the Cox, Exponential, Weibull, Gompertz, and Competing Risk models), the results show that there is no statistical evidence to ensure a correlation between profitability and credit union survival. The results also suggest that the size of credit unions plays a key role in their survival and longevity and that their funding and investment management are related to their survival and risk of market exit. In conclusion, the results confirm the initial idea that the duality inherent to credit unions -cooperative principles versus economic efficiency -might influence the stability, survival, and longevity of these institutions. Such results may also imply that a credit union embracing the rationale of a private bank will become more estranged from its members, something which will hinder its future operations and increase the likelihood of its exit from the market.

Resumo and Southeast (12.4%). The women overeducated return was lower in the two most dynamic regions: Southeast and South (13.6% and 12.1%, respectively).

The literature has not reached a consensus on the motivation and implications of pyramidal ownership schemes. For some, such arrangements make it easier for controlling shareholders to expropriate outside investors. More recently, some studies have challenged this view and emphasized that their rationale lies in overcoming financial constraints. This paper focuses on whether firms owned through pyramidal schemes are more likely to be listed on the “Novo Mercado,” the Brazilian stock exchange’s premium listing segment created in 2000, which prohibits firms from issuing non-voting shares. We built a dataset of ownership data with annual observations for a panel of firms over the period 2003-2010 by hand-collecting data drawn from reports that firms submit periodically to the Brazilian securities regulator (CVM). Estimating fixed effects non-linear panel data models of a binary dependent variable, we find that firms listed on the Novo Mercado are less likely to be owned through a pyramid arrangement, result which appears to be consistent with the expropriation view.

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