From biological viruses to economic viruses: a vaccine for microenterprises in Brazil

Abstract

Resumo Diante da ameaça de desestruturação do tecido produtivo como consequência do isolamento social imposto no Brasil, e tendo em vista que as micro e pequenas empresas são aquelas mais duramente atingidas, o presente trabalho tem por objetivo formular uma proposta de auxílio emergencial governamental para este segmento econômico. Para tanto, apresenta uma breve análise das medidas já adotadas pelo Governo Federal, propõe uma medida capaz de preencher suas lacunas e, por fim, estima os custos da medida proposta para o Tesouro Nacional.

Wicked multi-problems (COVID-19 + Oil Spill + wildFires) in Brazil and their effects on socioeconomic vulnerability

“…Câmara et al (2020) explain that these potential weaknesses based on income and employed personnel can help developing strategies to minimize the harmful effects of COVID-19 on the economy, for example, by government providing instruments of direct incentive to companies and for wealth creation, as well as increasing support measures to minimize economic effects on the labor market. Nogueira et al (2020) highlight the "risk group" most sensitive in the business universe, which are the micro and small companies, where the pandemic had a devastating effect due to the lack of working capital and their limited reserves. In addition, IBGE (2020b) data show that trade and services are the prevailing sectors among these firms, and have the highest loss potential in the Brazilian states mentioned, as previous results disclosed (Figures 1a and 1b).…”

“…In addition, regarding the economic aspect, a judicial decision created some impact compensation mechanisms, such as subsistence allowances for local fishers. Nevertheless, little was done for the economic sectors, consisting mainly of micro and small entrepreneurs, which is the most susceptible link of the production chain to economic impacts (Nogueira et al. , 2020).…”

“…In addition, regarding the economic aspect, a judicial decision created some impact compensation mechanisms, such as subsistence allowances for local fishers. Nevertheless, little was done for the economic sectors, consisting mainly of micro and small entrepreneurs, which is the most susceptible link of the production chain to economic impacts (Nogueira et al, 2020). In Brazil, there is a concentration of taxes and resources in the federal government (responsible for 60% of the country's collection), which shows the relevance of its active and predominant participation in facing large-scale national disasters such as COVID -19, wildfires, and the oil spill that hit 11 Brazilian states.…”

“…However, the government canceled the benefit in December 2020, amid rising cases of COVID-19 in the country, and the beginning of a potential second wave (Ferrante et al, 2020;Cardoso, 2020). Nogueira et al (2020) observe that these measures are insufficient and little attractive, since the current scenario is extremely uncertain; for small firms, getting into debts means taking great risks, and as operations' credit risks are assumed by the financial institutions, the credit assessment tends to be more rigorous. In order to overcome the crisis, it is necessary to adopt development policies toward fiscal reduction, and simultaneously increase spending on existing social programs, thus protecting the most vulnerable, small entrepreneurs and thousands of informal workers living in precarious settlements (Costa, 2020).…”

“…Given these considerations, and based on the literature on exposure and discussion of events in Brazil (Swart and Brinkmann, 2020;Nogueira et al, 2020;Rodrigues et al, 2020;Magalhães et al, 2020), it is evident that the country has failed in coordinating and managing these stages, showing difficulties mainly in Answers and Recovery, regarding COVID-19, oil spill, and wildfires.…”