Dinâmica multidimensional do desenvolvimento: o papel das instituições

Abstract

The economic development analysis requires a multidimensional understanding, revealing the importance of the relationship between economic and non-economic factors. This understanding comprehends the concepts of institutions and social capital. Identifying these concepts is no simple task, therefore analyze their effects on economic variables becomes relevant. Defining these terms involves as objective notions, such as formal rules, laws, networks of social interaction, as other less tangible structures, such as norms, values, trust, or any cognitive elements. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the relationship between the economic dimension (individual income and national income) and the social and institutional dimension (social capital and formal institutions), raising the general hypothesis that the capital and/or formal institutions positively influence both on the income of individuals and on countries’ income. The focus is on cognitive character (values) microdata. To achieve this objective we used the ordered logistic regression model in which the dependent variable is the individual income, ordered in three categories (low, medium and high); to respond to the model that includes variables at different levels (individuals and countries), we employed the hierarchical logistic regression model; and to understand the analysis of the country dimension, where the dependent variable is GDP per capita, we used the panel data model. The database for the social capital belongs to the World Values Survey (WVS) from WVSA and for formal institutions to the Index of Economic Freedom, from Heritage Foundation, comprising the period from 1994 to 2014. The first results have formed a set of associations between informal institutions (social capital) and income, showing which of these institutions increase (or reduce) the chances of the individual to have a high income. Values such as family, faith, gender equality, interest in politics and democracy, competition, government size (less intervention) were positively related to the highest individual income. On the other hand, values such as religion, obedience, authority and income equality had an inverse relation to the highest individual income. On formal institutions (results of the hierarchical model), it was analyzed the level of interference of these second-level variables (property right and fiscal freedom) on individual income, the positive association is confirmed between these variables, meaning, an environment characterized by greater guarantees of property rights and less government intervention amplify the chances of the individual be in higher income categories. Finally, specifically for countries analysis (panel data model), it corroborated the direct relationship between the institutional environment and countries’ ix economic growth. Thinking of institutional environment is complex given the multidimensionality attributed to informal and formal institutions that compose it. Thus, the development process will depend on how formal institutions are drawn to organize the society, respecting the existing informal institutions.