Browsing by Author "Pyka, Andreas"

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    Comparing cars with apples? : identifying the appropriate benchmark countries for relative ecological pollution rankings and international learning.
    (2021) Hartmann, Dominik; Ferraz, Diogo; Bezerra, Mayra; Pyka, Andreas; Pinheiro, Flávio L.
    One of the most difficult tasks that economies face is how to generate economic growth without causing environmental damage. Research in economic complexity has provided new methods to reveal structural constraints and opportunities for green economic diversification and sophistication, as well as the effects of economic complexity on environmental pollution indicators. However, no research so far has compared the ecological efficiency of countries with similar productive structures and levels of economic complexity, and used this information to identify the best learning partners. This matters, because there are substantial differences in the environmental damage caused by the same product in different countries, and green diversification needs to be complemented by substantial efficiency improvements of existing products. In this article, we use data on 774 different types of exports, CO2 emissions, and the ecological footprint of 99 countries to create first a relative ecological pollution ranking (REPR). Then, we use methods from network science to reveal a benchmark network of the best learning partners based on country pairs with a large extent of export similarity, yet significant differences in pollution values. This is important because it helps to reveal adequate benchmark countries for efficiency improvements and sustainable production, considering that countries may specialize in substantially different types of economic activities. Finally, the article i) illustrates large efficiency improvements within current global output levels, ii) helps to identify countries that can best learn from each other, and iii) improves the information base in international negotiations for the sake of a cleaner global production system.
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    Mechanization in sugarcane production and other agricultural activities : an econometric analysis of employment and income.
    (2021) Ferraz, Diogo; Oliveira, Fabíola Cristina Ribeiro de; Rebelatto, Daisy Aparecida do Nascimento; Pyka, Andreas
    Several studies argue that agricultural mechanization has reduced employment and wages. However, there is a lack of studies analyzing employment and income over time, especially comparing the agricultural activities. Our major argument is the structural change in the employment - from un-skilled to skilled workers which has to be understood because of the overall decrease in the number of jobs. This study aims to analyze the labor market evolution in sugarcane farming and other agricultural activities, from 1992 to 2015. Using the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD/IBGE), we compared sugarcane and other Brazilian crops using econometrics techniques. We analyzed the Heckman's procedure and models with fixed effects panel data, controlling the unobservable characteristics of workers. Methodologically, our equations show convergence, since the Heckman procedure and pooled regression present similar estimates. We showed that fixed- effect regression captures the same trends of Ordinary Least Square (OLS) technique, using the Heckman method. Our main findings suggest that the wage of sugarcane workers is higher than wages in other crops, even after we control the observable and regional characteristics. This finding is important because the sugarcane sector has faced criticism regarding the low level of employment and income due to the mechanization process. Finally, we pointed out the decrease in unskilled jobs in sugarcane, which demands for policy intervention to improve the human capital in the sugarcane sector.