This collection of papers delivered at a seminar, moderated by André Lara Resende, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, addresses the issues considered pertinent to the consolidation of stability, the recovery of growth, and the process of stabilization undertaken in the aftermath of the inflationary...

This paper introduces cash transfers targeting the poor in an incomplete marketsmodel with heterogeneous agents facing idiosyncratic risk. These transfers change the degree of insurance in the economy and affect precautionary motives asymmetrically,leading the poorest households to decrease...

We use data from a unique survey of members of drug-trafficking gangs in favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to characterize drug-trafficking jobs and study the selection into gangs, analyzing what distinguishes gang-members from other youth living in favelas. We also estimate wage...

In an endowment economy in which agents negotiate long-term contracts with a financial intermediary, we study the implication of the interaction between incentive compatibility and participation constraints for risk sharing. In particular, we assume that after a default episode, agents consume...

We study the asymptotic properties of the Adaptive LASSO (adaLASSO) in sparse, high-dimensional, linear time-series models. We assume that both the number of covariates in the model and the number of candidate variables can increase with the sample size (polynomially orgeometrically). In other...

In this paper we show the validity of the adaptive LASSO procedure in estimating stationary ARDL(p,q) models with GARCH innovations. We show that, given a set of initial weights, the adaptive Lasso selects the relevant variables with probability converging to one. Afterwards, we show that the...

I investigate the optimal auditing scheme for a revenue-maximizing tax-collection agency that observes not only reported prots, but also the level of employment at each firm. Each firm is owned by a single entrepreneur whose managerial ability is random. The optimal auditing scheme is...

Since the conquest of hyperinflation, with the Real Plan, in 1994, the Brazilian financial system has grown from early infancy to late adolescence. We describe the process of maturing with emphasis on the defining features of the Brazilian financial system over the last 20 years: 1)...