cometadata/datacite-titles-descriptions-related-identifiers huggingface dataset:
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291854
title: Incomplete contracts for bus service during the COVID-19 pandemic

description: Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic poses serious challenges for the public bus service. The fall in demand due to social distancing measures, the intensification of hygiene procedures, the acquisition of personal protective equipment, and restrictions on vehicle capacity threaten the financial viability of Brazilian public transportation. The COVID-19 pandemic may be characterized as a force majeure event, giving rise to an economic-financial balancing of public bus service contracts. However, this solution must be built by the public administration and transport companies to guarantee the interests and needs of both parties. Therefore, this article offers strategies to continue operating the service during the pandemic and to achieve economic and financial equilibrium protecting the public interest. Overcoming the uncertainties and consequences caused by the pandemic requires relationships of trust and mutual support between the private sector (operators) and government.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291852
title: Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on funding basic education

description: Abstract This article aims to estimate the impact of lower tax revenues on the funding of basic education, in the context of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Three hypothetical scenarios of lowering tax revenues are estimated and analyzed, along with their effects on the investment in education in the states and municipalities, per-pupil and overall, using a methodology that combines data on tax revenues, mandatory allocation in education, and enrollment numbers. In the most optimistic scenario, the reduction of 7% in the net tax revenues would lead to a decrease in investment in basic education of more than R$ 16.6 billion. The monthly per-pupil expenditure, which in 2018 was R$ 460 on average, could drop between 4.1% and 26.9% depending on which scenario is considered. This probable reduction in revenues requires urgent measures to attenuate the deepening of educational inequalities, converging to the transference of federal funds to sub-national governments. Finally, we highlight the economic virtue of investing in education, when considering the capillarity of education, and its character of intensive investment in personnel.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291850
title: The pandemic and the labor market in Brazil

description: Abstrac The COVID-19 pandemic is a global public health problem that has given new dynamics to the world economy. The rapid spread of the disease and the use of social distancing as a form of prevention exposed the social and urban inequalities of capitalist cities. In Brazil, as in other countries, social distancing has promoted rapid changes in the labor market with more severe impacts for 37.3 million people living in the informal sector, as they do not have rights to, for example, the severance pay indemnity fund (FGTS) and unemployment benefit. According to the International Labour Organization, the first layoffs are occurring among those who live off precarious work, such as: outsourced workers, clerks, waiters, kitchen workers, day laborers, baggage handlers, and cleaners. We show a brief synthesis of the consequences that the health crisis has brought to Brazilian workers and propose coping measures that are not limited to emergency aid. The recovery and creation of occupations will depend, among other factors, on the resumption of spending on social and economic programs that were able to reduce social inequalities at the beginning of this century, such as PAC-favelas; Minha Casa, Minha Vida Program; Bolsa Família Program and the FAT Employment and Income Generation Program. These programs can and must be expanded to bring the economy back to growth in the long run.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291848
title: Fear of death and polarization: political consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic

description: Abstract Humanity has always been tormented with the end of existence. On some occasions, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, this affliction is pronounced. To what extent can fear of death alter individuals’ political perceptions and beliefs? It is in this context of uncertainties and fears that we investigate how Brazilian society has been evaluating its leaders, especially concerning the policy of social distancing. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the axes of political polarization. On the one hand, governors, mayors, and legislators are concerned about the risks of a collapse of the health system. On the other, President Jair Bolsonaro focused primarily on the negative economic consequences of the pandemic. Through an opinion poll, we identified that “fear of death” diminished the ideological polarization that has existed in Brazil since Jair Bolsonaro’s election. Contrary to what many expected, voters who identified themselves as right-wing and center-right - supposedly, the core of Bolsonaro’s voters - refused to follow the president’s recommendation of relaxing social distancing policies and considered his performance inappropriate during the pandemic. We also show that different income levels did not influence this change in behavior.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291846
title: Civil society mobilization in coping with the effects of COVID-19 in Brazil

description: Abstract This text discusses the role of civil society in public action to face the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. Based on a pragmatic approach, the study examines the collective actions promoted by civil society actors in Brazil, highlighting the characteristics, scope, and limits in the governance of this crisis. The study uses documental analysis to observe the recent mobilization of civil society in the country and field research to explore the reality of the city of Florianópolis. The results offer an overview of the performance of “invisible networks” of civil society actors, pointing out the challenges and outcomes of their actions. The findings suggest the need for further studies exploring the role, perspectives, and dilemmas of civil society in the production of “experimentalist governance” in response to the numerous challenges posed by the pandemic at the local level.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291844
title: The collaboration between governments and civil society organizations in response to emergency situations

description: Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic is an example of a large-scale emergency that defies public administration. There is a variety of large-scale emergency events, and the government is responsible for responding to such situations. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) can contribute to a fast and appropriate response to these emergencies. This article discusses the characteristics of CSOs that qualify them to contribute to the government’s emergency responses. We also analyze possible collaborative arrangements between governments and CSOs.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291842
title: Regulatory agencies in response to the COVID-19 crisis

description: Abstract This article aims to examine the responses of federal regulatory agencies to the public health crisis - the COVID-19 pandemic. We adhere to the understanding that an empirical evaluation of the patterns of response manifested by the agencies during the pandemic plays an important role in the improvement of public function. First, because it aids the task of adapting regulatory activities more quickly to the needs of the current situation. Secondly, because the context of exceptionality created by the pandemic highlights essential features of the regulatory activity in itself: its conditions of execution and functionalities, limitations and potentialities, and, most of all, its importance for minimizing losses in scenarios of structural instability. The data used in this study was gathered from the Official Gazette Diário Oficial da União (DOU) and the websites of the eleven regulatory federal agencies. In our analysis, we only selected measures with an impact on the regulated sector. We found significant heterogeneity in the number of agency responses, partly related to sectorial differences, but mostly arising from asymmetries of institutional capability among these bodies. We also found heterogeneity of content in the responses given by agencies to similar regulatory problems, which suggests the existence of failures in regulatory coordination in urgent need of a solution.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291840
title: Smart cities and the pandemic: digital technologies on the urban management of Brazilian cities

description: Abstract COVID-19 has been affecting the way of life in cities. The pandemic curve grows significantly in some countries, such as Brazil, requiring rapid responses from the public administration. This research, conducted in April 2020, characterizes the use of digital tools in adapting Brazilian cities to the pandemic in light of the concept of smart cities, presenting a panorama of the current situation. The results indicated that 83% of the cities surveyed used digital tools in measures to fight the pandemic, such as increasing social distancing and adapting public services. The concentration of initiatives tends to follow the geographic distribution of confirmed cases, i.e., digital tools are more used in places where the pandemic curve is more accentuated. Also, cities that are historically more open to innovation demonstrated a heavier use of digital technologies and strategies to fight the pandemic. Finally, the results indicate that the largest Brazilian cities follow, at some level, the trends of digital optimization observed worldwide.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291838
title: The public administration’s ‘engine room’ in the fight against COVID-19

description: Abstract The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil requires integrated and coordinated strategies and actions involving different public policy agencies in the local, state, and federal governments, delivering essential services and emergency programs. Such services rely on public administration’s functional areas, designated in this work as the “engine room.” The study uses this particular intra-organizational dimension to describe and analyze the administrative functions in the adjustment of the death care services in a municipality, as the final link in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2. The empirical locus is the death care service of São Paulo, Brazil. The service was chosen because it is a public sector monopoly and São Paulo because of the municipality’s size - one of the biggest in the world. The research adopted documentary analysis and interviews with local public managers, examining the back office of public administration focusing on finance, human resources, processes and information technology, procurement and contracts, logistics and operations, and communication and marketing. The study discusses the mechanisms of public organizations in the context of the pandemic. It leads to a reflection on the key points of such a health crisis considering different realities, recognizing the limits of analyzing an ongoing phenomenon.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291836
title: The COVID-19 outbreak and the municipal administration responses: resource munificence, social vulnerability, and the effectiveness of public actions

description: Abstract Facing the unprecedented situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, public officials at the municipality-level have no clear benchmarks or tested policies. In this situation, decision-making becomes a controversial process. This article provides insights for public agents in the Brazilian municipalities to deal with the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyzed the actions taken by city halls of the 52 Brazilian municipalities at least thirty days since the first confirmed case of COVID-19. We used a fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to identify the combinations of contextual factors and public actions that reduced COVID-19 transmission during the critical initial stage. The empirical results show three main paths to guide policy-making: (1) a plural collaboration path involving public and private sectors, operating in a fragile health system; (2) a public action path providing aid programs through intense collaboration inside public bureaucracy; and (3) a resource-based path relying on a well-structured health system.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291834
title: Better safe than sorry: leadership sensemaking in the time of COVID-19

description: Abstract Government leaders who want to promote a collective response to disrupting events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, need to foster a shared understanding of the crisis through effective communication. However, the tone and content of communication varies across and within countries and led to conflicting results in terms of collective sensemaking. To understand how government leaders’ messages shape emotional and cognitive responses of citizens, we designed a 2x2 vignette experiment in which we manipulate the framing (pessimistic vs. optimistic) and content of the message (specific vs. general) delivered by a political leader. Results from 436 participants showed that while the tone of leader’s messages has significant implications for the levels of anxiety and evaluation of the government’s truthfulness and its overall response to the crisis, the content of the leader’s message matters less. Furthermore, these effects were particularly experienced by women and left-leaning participants. Overall, our results highlight the importance of the leader’s communication strategies on influencing the public’s emotional reactions, as well as the perceptions of government effectiveness in dealing with the crisis.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291832
title: Pandemics and communication: an experimental assessment

description: Abstract Communication is a key factor in containing a pandemic. Fragmented information may affect people’s perceptions and behaviors, especially in times of governmental miscommunication, potentially jeopardizing efforts aimed at containing the spread of the disease. To test whether and how people have been sensitive to broken information during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, we performed a randomized survey experiment on a sample of 571 respondents. We found that more pessimistic or more optimistic fragmented messages about the pandemic have no overall significant average effect on perceptions and planned behavior of the respondents. The exploratory analyses showed that particular sociodemographic groups are more sensitive to these fragmented messages. While less educated people react to more pessimistic messages with an increased likelihood to intensify prevention measures, people aged 60 or older - the high-risk group for COVID-19 complications - react to more optimistic messages with a reduced probability to intensify prevention measures. Besides providing insights to the public administration literature on disaster management, the results reinforce the need for governments to consistently centralize communication efforts to guarantee that people are equipped with complete and accurate information to form their perceptions and adequate their behaviors towards a health crisis.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291830
title: Predictors of the intention to maintain social distancing

description: Abstract This research aimed to develop an Intention to Maintain Social Distancing Scale (IMSDS) based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The model establishes that the variables attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control are predictors of the intention to maintain social distancing (IMSD). The methodological design was an online survey with non-probabilistic sampling. The survey included 786 Brazilian participants, mostly residents of the southern region of the country. The TBP variables explained 85% of the IMSD variation: subjective norms (β = 0.69), attitudes (β = 0.24) and perceived behavioral control (β = 0.06). These results provide evidence of what are the underlying beliefs that influence the IMSD. This evidence is relevant to public and private organizations in the process of developing strategies to promote and engage the population in adopting the behavior of “maintaining social distancing” in Brazil. In the discussions, the practical implications are presented, pointing out the limitations of the research and the possibilities for future studies on IMSD.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291828
title: Political orientation and support for social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from Brazil

description: Abstract Social distancing practices have been widely recommended to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite the medical consensus, many citizens have resisted adhering to and/or supporting its implementation. While this resistance may stem from the non-negligible personal economic costs of implementing social distancing, we argue that it may also reside in more fundamental differences in normative principles and belief systems, as reflected by political orientation. In a study conducted in Brazil, we test the relative importance of these explanations by examining whether and how support for social distancing varies according to self-identified political orientation and personal economic vulnerability. Results show that while economic vulnerability does not influence support for social distancing, conservatives are systematically less supportive of these practices than liberals. Discrepancies in sensitivity to threats to the economic system help explain the phenomenon.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291826
title: Asymmetries of state government social distancing policies in the face of COVID-19: political and technical-administrative aspects

description: Abstract This article aims to analyze the leadership of Brazilian state governments on lockdown and social distancing policies to keep COVID-19 from spreading. It is assumed that the states’ policies on this matter are heterogeneous, and their implementation regarding how commercial activities - and others that potentially involve a large concentration of people - is asymmetric. Therefore, the study observed the debates on policy-making processes and on autonomy and federalism to investigate the influence of political or technical-administrative factors on policies adopted at the state level in Brazil. The methodology used content analysis of 134 state norms, mapping the political-party alignment of state governors to the president, analysis of medical and hospital resources of each federation unit based on the National Register of Health Establishments. The emergency context revealed low inter-federative coordination by the federal government, competition among states, and states leadership in crisis management at the local level. The article presents evidence that state governments’ leadership cannot be justified by political party alignment with the president. However, there is a correspondence between both the local health system capacity and the rigor of lockdown and social distancing policies, which indicates that, in an intense social disorder situation, technical rationality was preferable to political bargaining.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291820
title: Federal university practices to combat COVID-19: the relationship between public investment and implementation capacity

description: Abstract This article aims to analyze the relationship between public resources invested in federal universities and their capability to respond to COVID-19. The article presents a categorization method to evaluate the practices of combating COVID-19 organized by federal universities. Data analysis indicates a positive relationship between the level of expenditures and the ability to implement research and extension projects, mainly for the development of technologies. The discussion presents consequences for the public policies of Science, Technology, and Innovation to strengthen the Federal System of Higher Education, to guarantee the necessary infrastructure to solve complex problems such as those generated by COVID-19.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291818
title: Disaster preparedness and response in Brazil in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic

description: Abstract This article aims to understand how the National System of Protection and Civil Defense functions in response to COVID-19, with emphasis on the work of the Ministry of Health, which is the body responsible for tackling health threats. Three specific objectives were used: the first characterizes COVID-19 as a public health event that can represent a disaster; the second situates the concepts of preparedness and response in the disaster governance literature; the third identifies the jurisprudence and the functioning of disaster management in Brazil. The findings show that, despite the political decision-making tensions, the Brazilian professional bureaucracy managed to guarantee the activation of the disaster governance system related to the preparation and response phases. However, its activation was not enough to allay the crisis. The severity of the pandemic exposed flaws in the phases of disaster prevention and mitigation, as well as the lack of coordinated government response.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291816
title: The challenges of funding the Brazilian health system in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of the federative pact

description: Abstract The improvement of rules to fund the Brazilian health system (SUS) in states and municipalities is one of the major public health challenges in Brazil. The purpose of this article is to contribute to this broad debate, analyzing the government's response to the challenge of combating COVID-19, from the perspective of public financing of health services of Brazilian subnational governments. A qualitative and quantitative approach is adopted, combining documentary analysis and regression analysis. The results show that there was no substantive change in the criteria for transfers, which are not sensitive to epidemiological factors. Adjustments to the application rules were made to speed up spending. Population size, production of local wealth, and the number of hospital beds are the main factors that define the distribution of resources. The funding design for combating COVID-19, as well as the volume of resources, are insufficient in view of the scale of the crisis.
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14291814
title: Healthcare system capacity of the municipalities in the State of Rio de Janeiro: infrastructure to confront COVID-19

description: Abstract Considering the growing number of cases requiring emergency care as a result of SARS-CoV-2 in the Brazilian State of Rio de Janeiro, this study focuses on mapping the health infrastructure of the municipalities of the state, comparing the Structure Efficiency Index (IEE) before (2016) and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The article fills a gap in the academic literature, informing public health policies specialists and technicians, as well as policy and decision-makers, about the capacity of municipalities to face the problem. We calculated the Structure Efficiency Index (IEE) of the states’ 92 municipalities and positioned them on the pandemic curve. It was possible to verify that the government of the State of Rio de Janeiro needs to start acting to suppress COVID-19, maintaining the policy of providing more hospital beds, and purchasing equipment. However, it is also necessary to consider the particularities and deficiencies of each region, as the policy to transfer patients to places with available beds can contribute to the spread of the disease.