Blog

Alexandre Gori Maia presented the first 2025 meeting of the Quantitative Methods Working Group for the Population Studies Center (PSC) at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) on February 10th. The presentation covered basic concepts and applications of spatial econometric models in demographic research. The PSC at UPenn is a center of excellence in population studies, bringing together researchers from diverse fields, including economics, demography, and sociology. The charming Philadelphia—the birthplace of independence, Rocky Balboa, and the Eagles, the 2025 Super Bowl champions—is the perfect place to study and live!

The Winter (at 30 degrees Celsius) Course on Panel Data Econometrics took place at Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), Paraná, on August 27 and 28, 2024. The course was taught by Alexandre Gori Maia from Universidade Estadual de Campinas. These happy graduate students and professors from UEM and UEL (Universidade Estadual de Londrina) in the picutre attended the course. Topics included regression analysis with cross-sectional data, omitted variable bias, pooled regression, fixed and random-effects estimators. Maringá is not only a pleasant place to live and study but is also known for having the best hot dogs in the world.

The rise of working from home (WFH) has been though to amplify existing labor market inequalities because it often disadvantages certain social groups in terms of prevalence and wage returns. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) sponsored a research partnership between Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) and Columbia University to investigate differences in earnings penalties associated with WFH between groups of gender and race before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. The study explains how and why the earnings penalty associated with WFH diminished for White and Black men during the pandemic while remaining high for White and Black women.

The development of effective policies for agricultural adaptation to climate change requires an understanding of how impacts are related to exposures and vulnerability, the specific dimensions of the climate system that will undergo the most significant changes, where human impacts will be most severe, and the institutions best suited to respond. A study conducted through a partnership between the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) evaluated how the agricultural sector in Brazil (production, prices, and loans) is affected by variations in the more predictable components of temperature and rainfall, including trends, seasonality, and unexpected shocks. The study found increased variation in yields and revenues and higher agricultural loan defaults. The authors discuss how resilience strategies should focus on institutions such as water storage, financial services, and reinsurance.

Climate conditions can affect fertility through biological and behavioral mechanisms. Biological mechanisms include, for example, natural sterility, spontaneous intrauterine mortality, and duration of the fertile period. Behavioral mechanisms include, for example, perceptions that certain temperature and precipitation conditions can be unfavorable to births during particular seasons or due to weather shocks. The study developed by Leticia Junqueira Marteleto (University of Pennsylvania), Alexandre Gori Maia (UNICAMP), and Cristina Guimarães Rodrigues (FIPE/USP) analyzes the impacts of climate conditions on fertility over a period of a public health crisis in Brazil, the Zika epidemic. Findings suggest that increases in temperature and precipitation are associated with birth declines. The authors also show how fertility changes in response to climate conditions have increased during the Zika epidemic, particularly in urban areas.