Publications

Food insecurity during a cost‑of‑living crisis: trends and housing‑related vulnerability in Portugal (2019–2023)

Abstract

The study concludes that the rising cost of living and difficulties in accessing housing are associated with a higher prevalence of food insecurity in Portugal, highlighting the need for integrated policies to provide food, housing, and social support. This conclusion is based on an analysis of national data from 2019 to 2023, which reveals an increase in food insecurity from 13.8% to 16.3%, as well as greater vulnerability among young adults, single-parent families, people living alone, non-EU migrants, households facing financial difficulties, and renters with high housing costs.

Citation

Brissos, S., Ramos, V. Food insecurity during a cost‑of‑living crisis: trends and housing‑related vulnerability in Portugal (2019–2023). Agric & Food Secur 15, 44 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-026-00628-6

Economic Development as a Concept: Fissiparity Rather than Teleology? Introduction

Abstract

The word “development” inherently carries teleological connotations, referring to a progression from an “unattained” state to a desirable one (“to be developed”). It is argued that, paradoxically, this concept—its meanings (its epistemology) and its uses (in empirical reality)—does not follow an evolutionary trajectory in which phenomena converge toward a dynamic of “development,” nor do its successive paradigms demonstrate a dependence on a trajectory that leads to a better fit with reality.
On the contrary, the concept is subject to fragmentation and dilution as it is used by various disciplines and shaped more by “external” geopolitical events than by reflections on its epistemological validity, as well as by institutions that do not prioritize the advancement of knowledge. Furthermore, the very object of economic “development” has been losing definition, with groups of countries varying over time.
Thus, the concept exhibits a dynamic of fragmentation that is more pronounced than its teleological connotations, and it is not guided by the quest to better align its meanings with reality.

Citation

Sindzingre, A. N. (2026). Economic Development as a Concept: Fissiparity Rather than Teleology? Introduction. Forum for Social Economics, 55(3), 271–293. https://doi.org/10.1080/07360932.2025.2595258

Change, Language and Power: The Example of International Financial Institutions’ Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

International financial institutions (IFIs—the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) and their policies have faced several global crises since the late 20th century, and these institutions claim to have implemented significant changes in response. In this context, after examining the polysemy of the concept of change, this paper argues that the transformations have been limited and that language plays a fundamental role in maintaining the stability of policies, theories, and the international institutions that convey them.
This idea is illustrated through an empirical analysis of the policies demanded by the IFIs of Sub-Saharan African economies since these institutions assumed a central role in guiding economic policies in the 1980s. The economic performance of African countries remains weak, with the gap relative to other regions actually widening, while the underlying structural causes—namely, dependence on commodity-based export structures—have not changed. Despite the “small changes” heralded by theories and policies, an assessment of their effects demonstrates the persistence of these fundamental structures.

Citation

Sindzingre, A. N. (2026). Change, Language and Power: The Example of International Financial Institutions’ Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Forum for Social Economics, 55(3), 388–411. https://doi.org/10.1080/07360932.2025.2584295

The Global Economy, Europe, and Portugal: Crisis and the Reconfiguration of the International System

Abstract

As transformações económicas, tecnológicas e geopolíticas que estão a reconfigurar a economia global e o sistema político e institucional internacional. A Europa e Portugal na evolução desta reconfiguração.

Mais do que um mundo em mudança, estamos, possivelmente, perante uma mudança de mundo.
Reunindo ensaios e outros escritos, António Mendonça analisa neste livro as transformações económicas, tecnológicas e geopolíticas que estão a reconfigurar a economia global e o sistema internacional.
A crise económica e financeira de 2008-2009, a pandemia de Covid-19 e as recentes tensões geoestratégicas não são interpretadas apenas como uma sucessão de acontecimentos conjunturais, mas como manifestações de mudan­ças estruturais mais profundas.
Cruzando história económica, teoria e observação da realidade contemporânea, o autor percorre as dinâmicas da globalização, a formação e o esgotamento das sucessivas ordens económicas internacionais e a emergência de novas configurações de poder.
A Europa e Portugal ocupam um lugar central nesta reflexão: a primeira, confrontada com as contradições entre integração e fragmentação, ambição estratégica e limitações institucionais; o segundo, perante a necessidade de repensar o seu posicionamento e as suas possibilidades de afirmação num mundo em transformação.
Sem respostas definitivas nem constrangimentos ideológicos ou políticos, estes textos oferecem referências para interpretar o que está a mudar – e para pensar os caminhos do futuro.

Citation

Mendonça, António (2025). Economia Global, Europa e Portugal: Crise e Reconfiguração do Sistema Internacional. 1.ª Edição. Edições Sílabo. ISBN: 978-989-561-485-1.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as a double-edged sword in Sub-Saharan Africa: growth and volatility under structural constraints

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), economic growth, and structural vulnerabilities in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), based on a balanced panel of 25 countries over the period from 2002 to 2024. It uses Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Fixed Effects (FE), and Random Effects (RE) models to assess both the direct contribution of FDI and the role of internal structural factors.
The results show that FDI has a positive but statistically insignificant effect on economic growth, indicating that it is not an autonomous driver of development. Instead, growth is primarily influenced by domestic conditions, with gross fixed capital formation standing out as the most robust determinant. Government effectiveness and demographic factors also have significant effects, while trade openness and debt service
yield mixed results.
Overall, the results reinforce the view of FDI as a “double-edged sword”: its benefits for development depend on absorptive capacity, institutional quality, and macroeconomic stability. To maximize the gains associated with FDI, SSA countries should strengthen institutions, diversify their economies, and increase their resilience to external shocks and volatility.

Citation

Pedro, Francisco Xavier e Sarmento, Eduardo Moraes (2026). “Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as a double-edged sword in Sub-Saharan Africa: growth and volatility under structural constraints”. CEsA/ISEG Research – Documentos de Trabalho n.º 209/2026.

Green Jobs Supply and Demand Mismatch: Exploring the Causes for Portugal

Abstract:

This research offers a novel approach to analyzing the green labor market by integrating labor demand, labor supply, and employment level data, a methodology previously unexplored, to the best of our knowledge. The study examines the changes and trends over time in the Portuguese labor market, focusing on five relevant green occupation. Given the lack of consensus in the literature on the concept of green jobs, various definitions and identification methodologies are presented. The identification methodologies for green jobs can be classified into two groups: one focused on activity sectors and the other on occupations, with the latter being used in this article. The primary sources of empirical research covering the last decade are registered labor supply and demand at the Portuguese public service of employment, the Institute of Employment and Vocational Training (IEFP), and the Personnel Tables, linked employer-employee micro data, collected by the Ministry of Labor (GEP-MTSSS). The empirical results show that green jobs in Portugal exhibit imbalances between supply and demand, with some occupations experiencing an excess of supply while others facing a shortage. The characteristics of employment in each of the occupations vary in terms of education level, gender, age, and wages. Green jobs represent a minor, but growing, component of the Portuguese labor market.

Cite this Book Chapter:

Silva, H., Fontainha, E. (2026). Green Jobs Supply and Demand Mismatch: Exploring the Causes for Portugal. In: Bilgin, M.H., Danis, H., Demir, E., Vale, S. (eds) Eurasian Business and Economics Perspectives. EBES 2025. Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-10967-5_13

Working Paper CEsA/ISEG Research No. 208/2025: Circular Economy And Sustainability: The Case of Pharmacies in Portugal

Abstract

The current situation of climate change worldwide reveals a positive impact on the use of resources throughout the entire production process, since they are finite resources. In this context, the use of resources with less environmental degradation has been a political and economic priority. Circular Economy and Sustainability emerge as alternative and more resilient solutions since it is necessary to guarantee economic growth without the intensive use of finite resources. Environmental problems are increasingly present and in the health sector, specifically in the pharmaceutical sector, it is necessary to realize that the Circular Economy is a way of alleviating the exhaustion of environmental resources and minimizing environmental impacts. One of the objectives of European Union support for the Circular Economy in Portugal is to monitor the climate emergency by using more sustainable production methods, the transition to a sustainable economy with a neutral impact on the climate and economic and environmental support focused on people’s needs. This paper investigates how the Circular Economy process works in the national pharmaceutical sector through more sustainable practices, namely the recycling of medicines.

Cite this Working Paper

Albuquerque, Francisca; Lopes, João Carlos and Mendes, Zorro (2025). “Circular Economy And Sustainability: The Case of Pharmacies in Portugal”. CEsA/ISEG Research – Documentos de trabalho nº 208/2025

Working Paper 207/2025: The Historical Constraints of Africa South-South Cooperation: 30 years of TICAD through the lenses of South-South-Triangular Cooperation

Abstract

Placing emphasis on the concepts of self-reliance and self-help, this paper contributes to the broad literature on South-South and Triangular cooperation, first, to understand its conceptual significance to south-south cooperation; second, to understand why from an historical perspective south-south cooperation has not advanced in Africa; and third, drawing on three decades of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, to understand the extent of TICAD contribution to promoting Africa’s self-reliance, essential to ending Africa’s marginalization and exit aid dependency. Based on insights from cross-analysis OECD reports, TICAD documents, UN and OAU historical resolutions, and secondary literature, through a qualitative and chronological approach, roughly from 1960 to 2022, we find that the role of TICAD through SS-TrC not only has contributed to structural development changes in Africa, but also redefined the paradigm of development assistance based on country ownership and equal partnership, thus becoming part of the Global Agenda for Development.

Cite this Working Paper

Amakasu Raposo de Medeiros Carvalho, Pedro Miguel (2025). “The Historical Constraints of Africa South-South Cooperation: 30 years of TICAD through the lenses of South-South-Triangular Cooperation”. CEsA/ISEG Research – Documentos de trabalho nº 207/2025

Working Paper 206/2025: Multiplexing Corporate Power: Navigating corporate autonomy in the EU Global Gateway

Abstract

The EU’s Global Gateway initiative relies on corporations to achieve geoeconomic goals, creating structural dependence on actors with autonomous transformation capacity. By analyzing official documents and three flagship projects (Lobito Corridor (Angola), Dakar BRT (Senegal), and Lumut Maritime Industrial City (Malaysia)) I develop a “geoeconomic force multiplexing” framework explaining how corporations process public inputs across geographic, sectoral, temporal, and network dimensions. Four “multiplexer profiles” emerge from the interaction of leverage and patron dependence: autonomous (high leverage, low dependence), directed (high leverage, high dependence), bounded (low leverage, high dependence), and opportunistic (low leverage, low dependence). The EU faces inherent tension: channeling priorities through high-leverage corporations invites lower steerability, while more dependent actors lack transformative capacity. Delegating implementation to corporate actors creates path-dependent lock-ins that may redirect or undermine original objectives.

Cite this Working Paper

Pais Bernardo, Luís (2025). “Multiplexing Corporate Power: Navigating corporate autonomy in the EU Global Gateway”. CEsA/ISEG Research – Documentos de trabalho nº 206/2025

Visa policy and its potential on attracting inbound tourism flows in Angola

Abstract

Over time, tourism has accompanied the evolution of societies and today it is often considered as a driver of economic and social development for many countries. Despite this, Angola continues to record relatively low numbers of international flows of tourists. According to Angola’s Tourism Master Plan a number of arrivals ranging from 1.4 to 3.5 million was expected for 2017, and in reality, 0.26 million were recorded, which is about 5 to 13 times lower than initial projections (MEPA, 2020). The analysis of this reality alerted to the fact that natural and cultural resources, the availability of quality infrastructure and the general operating conditions of a country such as safety, hygiene, and health conditions, are essential factors of competitiveness, but are not exclusive. Entry into Angola requires a visa application for most countries of origin of tourists. In 2017 of the fifteen countries that most traveled to Angola, only two did not require a prior visa and four did not require a visa upon arrival (MEPA, 2020). This finding and the legal changes introduced in 2018, in the visa policy, motivated this study which aims to answer the following starting question: To what extent the visa policy is important for the development of foreign tourism in Angola?

The paper is structured in different sections. It begins with an introduction, followed by the state of the art. The second section presents the evolution of tourism in Angola in the last decades, both in legislative and statistical terms, contextualizing the political and social economic situation experienced as well as the visa policy and the main options and legal framework. In the third section, the methodology adopted is presented followed by the discussion of results.

Cite this paper

Sarmento, E., & Silva, E. (2025). Visa policy and its potential on attracting inbound tourism flows in Angola. In Eduardo Brito-Henriques, Eduarda Marques da Costa & Patrícia Abrantes, Planeamento Territorial e Turismo. Estudos em homenagem a José Manuel Simões (Cap. 13, pp. 153-162). ISBN: 978-989-693-188-9. Lisboa: Centro de Estudos Geográficos da Universidade de Lisboa. ISBN 978-972-636-316-3 DOI 10.33787/CEG20250001