Católica diz que PIB cresceu 0,7% no segundo trimestre e compensou contração

[urukai]

One of the most interesting papers that I have recently read on the Portuguese economy was the paper (already referenced here) by Pedro Martins on cronyism with regards to public sector jobs. Martins uses the "Quadros do Pessoal" data in order to undergo an extensive empirical investigation of job hirings in public sector enterprises before and after general elections. The paper is important because it confirms fairly convincingly something that many suspected and from which we only had, up to now, anedoctal evidence: that hirings in public enterprises are strongly associated with general elections. Namely, Martins finds that hirings in public sector entreprises goes up immediately before and in the 3-6 months after a general election (see graph below, where period 0 represents the date of the election). Interestly, but probably not suprisingly, the effect on hirings is stronger when the party in power changes (i.e. if there is a change in the "color" of the party in power), that is, when the jobs-for-the-boys effect comes clearly into play. The results hold even after Martins controls for experience, education, private sector hirings, among others.
What this points out very clearly is that, in the last 30 years (i.e. at least since 1980, the year the data begin), public sector entreprises have been blantantly used for political gains and to reward your whoever helps you get into power. Yes, there are jobs for the boys alright and they are not only in the public administration or the State. Public companies also do.
This is certainly not completely surprising, but it is surely very nice to have substantial and unequivocal evidence on the extent of cronyism in Portugal. One of the obvious implications of this study is that we now understand better why public expenditures have been so difficult to control in our country, or why the debt of public enterprises keeps on growing at, on average, about 3 billion euros a year.

Ler o resto do artigo e acesso ao estudo subjacente ao mesmo aqui: http://theportugueseeconomy.blogspot.com/2010/12/cronyism-and-next-government.html

Cronyism = Cronyism is partiality to long-standing friends, especially by appointing them to positions of authority, regardless of their qualifications. Hence, cronyism is contrary in practice and principle to meritocracy. (retirado de wikipedia)

Em bom Português os chamados Jobs for the Boys ou Cunhas!