Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of a Brazilian rural credit program, The National Program for Strengthening Family Farming (PRONAF), on small family farming production. Design/methodology/approach: The method is based on a quasi-experimental approach (propensity score matching) applied to 4.1m family farmers in Brazil. Findings: Results show that farmers accessing PRONAF tended to be positively selected in terms of several observable characteristics, such as land size and agricultural practices. Moreover, PRONAF had positive and differentiated impacts on agricultural production. The impact was larger in the poorest region when compared to the regions characterized by intensive and commercial farming. Research limitations/implications: The rural credit information was restricted to one crop year, making impossible to analyze the mid- and long-term impacts of the credit program on agricultural production. Practical implications: The study provides some practical implications for policies of rural development. First, rural credit does matter for agricultural production of small family farmers. Nonetheless, since credit programs are large subsidized by the rest of the population, further studies are still needed the aggregate costs and benefits of these schemes. Results also revealed that PRONAF may have contributed to reduce regional inequalities, since the impact was larger in the poorest NE region. Originality/value: This study provides a comprehensive analysis of how rural credit has impacted small-farm agricultural production, using large and representative data – the whole population of Brazilian family farmers.

Analysis of prices and volatility plays an important role in coffee market, especially for developing countries, whose small producers and economies rely heavily on income generated by coffee trade. This study explores the impact of coffee crop reports on price volatility for coffee futures contracts during 2004–2014. Overall, results indicate that crop reports generally affect price volatility. The impact is particularly stronger when they provide information following the flowering periods in Colombia, Brazil, and Vietnam, world’s major producers.

Este trabalho analisou o impacto das práticas de governança corporativa sobre a estrutura de capital de empresas brasileiras não financeiras de capital aberto. Além de expandir o período de análise, entre 2000 e 2013, o estudou inovou ao fazer uso do Método dos Momentos Generalizado Sistêmico na estimação do modelo de dados de painel a fim de controlar potenciais problemas de endogeneidade. Os resultados confirmaram que a adesão aos níveis diferenciados de governança corporativa contribui tanto para ampliar o acesso das empresas brasileiras aos recursos de terceiros, como para alongar o perfil das dívidas.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of the growth of the Brazilian winter corn crop on the dynamics between domestic Brazilian prices and international prices as well as spot and futures prices in Brazil. Econometric time-series methods tests were applied using Brazilian spot and futures prices and U.S. futures prices. The statistical analysis found evidence that a long-run relationship between Brazilian and U.S. prices had developed, and the Brazilian futures market developed a more dominant role in the relationship between spot and futures prices domestically. These findings were particularly noticeable after 2002, when expanding corn production in Brazil was leading to greater participation in the international market (exports) and increasing trading in the Brazilian futures market.