In recent decades, numerous countries have revised their public mental health care policies by establishing community mental health centers. This paper examines the employment effects of introducing such centers in local communities. Focusing on Brazilian municipalities where community mental health centers were established to provide care for individuals with severe mental health disorders, I find that their implementation increases the probability of working, particularly in the informal sector. These effects are concentrated among women and individuals without physical or mental disabilities. In addition, I find that the presence of these centers increases disability benefit receipt, while the effects on informal employment are concentrated among spouses. Together, these findings suggest that expanded access to mental health care may increase access to disability benefits and enable family members of patients to engage in paid work outside the home.

Persistent disparities in educational attainment between Black and non-Black individuals remain a significant concern. This paper examines the impact of federal university expansion on access to higher education by comparing younger and older cohorts and investigating heterogeneity across racial groups. While the expansion increased the probability of ever enrolling in higher education among non-Black individuals by 0.6 percentage points, we find no statistically significant effect among Black individuals. These effects are concentrated among individuals living in small municipalities and among those who remain in their municipality of birth or have migrated out of state. Our findings show that, despite expanding access to higher education, the expansion disproportionately benefited non-Black individuals, highlighting the challenges of race-neutral policies in reducing educational inequalities.

Over the past fifty years, countries worldwide have implemented mental health care reforms that involved the establishment of community mental health centers. These centers increase the demand for mental health professionals. Considering that the choice of a college major is influenced by market fluctuations, including changes in labor demand, this project investigates whether the expansion of the labor market in the mental health sector affects students’ decisions when selecting a college major. Specifically, I examine whether mental health–related college enrollment per young adult is higher in microregions with CAPS than in microregions without CAPS.

How do farm characteristics influence dairy farmers' market exit probabilities? Using the initial conditions provided in a 2003 Dairy Farm Survey and a 2016 census of producers, we find that farms with older farmers, smaller numbers of cows, and less dairy dependence are more likely to exit the market. Meanwhile, we find these exit determinants, except for the farmer's age, are not good predictors for ex-ante exit plans. The evidence suggests that dairy farm exit is hard to predict ex-ante, instead farm exit seems driven by outside factors rather than individual farm or farmer characteristics.

Education funds in Brazil comprise local revenue and intergovernmental transfers. This study analyzes the importance of budget structure on government spending in education by estimating the effects of two characteristics of the fiscal arrangement: (i) a minimum spending rule, and (ii) a set of intergovernmental transfers. The minimum spending rule has increased educational spending only for municipalities that were below the minimum; for those above the minimum, we find a negative effect of the rule. Whereas our results indicate that the minimum rule has increased investments in low-spending municipalities, it has not affected spending in personnel for high-spending ones. We then analyze whether the sources of funds matter to government spending by estimating the flypaper effect of intergovernmental transfers using an instrumental variable method. We find a significant flypaper effect for redistribution transfers. Interestingly, we do not find flypaper effect for other types of intergovernmental transfers.

A taxa líquida de matrícula na pré-escola aumentou de 3,7% para 78,9% entre 1970 e 2018. Este artigo analisa o processo de universalização da pré-escola no Brasil ocorrido nos últimos 50 anos, documentando a evolução do acesso e discutindo de forma analítica a influência de fatores sociodemográficos e institucionais comumente atribuídos à expansão da pré-escola no Brasil. Fatores como oferta de trabalho feminina, investimento público e demografia, embora tenham sua importância, não foram decisivos para a expansão da pré-escola tal que a expansão observada no período parece fruto de políticas não coordenadas e não planejadas implementadas no período.

Professores constituem um dos componentes mais relevantes no processo educacional. O perfil, a remuneração, as condições de trabalho e a forma de atuação dos professores contribuem de forma significativa para o desempenho dos alunos. O presente artigo analisa os dados mais atuais disponíveis sobre os professores brasileiros: quem são, onde trabalham, quanto ganham, que impacto produzem. Essas são informações essenciais para entender a realidade, tendências e possibilidades de intervenção. O estudo se divide em três partes. Na primeira, caracteriza a quantidade de professores por nível de ensino e apresenta dados a respeito de seu perfil. Na segunda parte, apresenta dados referentes à remuneração e às tendências recentes de aumento dos salários. Na terceira, discute o impacto real e potencial de professores em um sistema de ensino. O artigo conclui com reflexões a respeito de possíveis caminhos para aumentar a eficiência e a eficácia das redes públicas de ensino, e, possivelmente, também da rede privada.