We study model selection strategies based on penalized empirical loss minimization. We point out a tight relationship between error estimation and data-based complexity penalization: any good error estimate may be converted into a data-based penalty function and the performance of the estimate...

Human capital, productivity and physical capital are considered the main factors in the economies’ GDP per capita determination. According to the neoclassical approach, human capital accumulation explains about a third of the variation in per capita income across countries. However, there is...

In this paper, we evaluate the income convergence hypothesis in Latin America and East Asia between 1960 and 2000 through the use of quantile regressions to estimate growth equations. This approach allows us to assess how the effect of policy variables on per worker income growth rate can vary...

Estimates based on household surveys often differ considerably from administrative records. In the PNADs, for instance, the estimated number of beneficiaries of the Programa Bolsa Família (PBF) and of the Benefício de Prestação Continuada (BPC) are always lower than the official figures....

The Brazilian municipalities show a huge disparity in income level. The GDP per capita difference between the richest and the poorest municipalities is about 190 times, according to IBGE (2000) database. Institutionalist theory provides a plausible explanation for the gap among municipalities...

The technological and institutional environment influences the way of doing research and the relationships between its participants. Intellectual property is a strategic issue to build the institutional framework of the new technological regime and therefore the dynamics of innovation in...

In this work we consider modeling the past volatilities through a Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model using the Bayesian approach. Asymmetries in the shocks are accommodated by smooth transition models for the variance. We discuss problems related to the...

This article brings new inputs to debate outsourcing in Brazil, using a new methodology based on administrative records. With this methodology, it is possible to identify 4.02 million outsourced workers, corresponding to 11.7% of total employees in the urban private sector. Moreover, with this...

This article is a contribution of the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - Ipea) to the evaluation of the My House My Life Program (Minha Casa Minha Vida - PMCMV) carried out within the scope of the Public Policy Monitoring and Evaluation Council...