Abstract

Abstract
This paper compares the export promotion system of advanced and emerging economies in fifty countries. Results show that advanced economies offer, on average, more complete export promotion system, i.e. a greater variety of Export Promotion Programs (EPPs) than emerging economies. Advanced countries offer more financial support, informational services, facilitating activities and education and training services. The specific services that contribute most to these differences are also identified, which is important for national export promotion agencies and policy makers to upgrade their offer to firms in order for them to be better prepared for international trade interactions, especially emerging economies.

Abstract
The subprime crisis was a global financial crisis that affected a large number of countries and, in particular, the European economies. In this paper we considered fourteen variables associated to the public, private and financial sectors, in order to analyze the main vulnerabilities, differences and similarities observed in twenty-seven European countries. The statistical analysis was performed with the STATIS methodology, with data collected in the period 2002-2011, including some years before and some after the historical crisis of 2007-2008. The study led us to conclude that European countries are different in which concerns to investment, savings, sustainability of public accounts and public investment.

Abstract

Abstract
Data sets that contain an excessive number of zeros appear in several fields of applications. This chapter considers a zero-inflated Lomax distribution as a possible model for these types of data, and presents and analyzes the performance of a Shewhart control chart for process monitoring. Several approaches allow for frequent zero observations, and among them, the most common are zero-inflated models and hurdle models in case of count data, and the use of zero-inflated distributions to model semi-continuous data, that is, data from a continuous distribution with one or more than one point of mass. The chapter presents some motivation for the use of the zero-inflated Lomax distribution together with some properties of this distribution. It proposes a Shewhart-type control chart for monitoring zero-inflated Lomax data, and analyzes its performance under some scenarios.

Abstract