“A long-term mortality analysis of subsidized firms in rural areas: an empirical study in the Portuguese Alentejo region”

Studies have demonstrated that public policies to support private firms’ investment have the ability to promote entrepreneurship, but the sustainability of subsidized firms has not often been analysed. This paper aims to examine this dimension specifically through evaluating the mortality of subsidized firms in the long-term. The analysis focuses on a case study of the LEADER+ Programme in the Alentejo region of Portugal. With this purpose, the paper examines the activity status (active or not active) of 154 private, rural, for-profit firms in Alentejo that had received a subsidy to support investment between 2002 and 2008 under the LEADER+ Programme. The methodology is based on binary choice models in order to study the probability of these firms still being active. The explanatory variables used are the following: (1) the characteristics of entrepreneurs and managers’ strategic decisions, (2) firm profile and characteristics, (3) regional economic environment. Data assessment showed that the cumulative mortality rate of firms on 31st December 2013 is over 20 %. Interpretation of the regression model revealed that he probability of firms’ survival increases with higher investment, firm age and regional business concentration, whereas the number of applications made by firms has a negative impact on their survival. So it seems that for subsidized firms the amount of investment is as important as its frequency

Nevo melanocítico congênito Congenital melanocytic nevi

O nevo melanocitico congênito está presente em aproximadamente 1% dos recém nascidos. As lesões classificadas como pequenas e medias são relativamente comuns, ao passo que o nevo gigante, maior que 20 cm no maior diâmetro, é uma condição mais rara cuja a incidência esta estimada em 1 para cada 20 mil nascimentos. As lesões melanociticas congênitas pequenas e médias têm um risco de degeneração maligna baixo, raramente ocorrendo na infância. Por outro lado, estima-se um risco entre 5 a 12 % de um melanoma se desenvolver a partir ou relacionado com um nevo gigante, e de regra, metade dos casos ocorrem antes dos 3 anos de idade. Alem da possibilidade de degeneração maligna, o acometimento neurológico e as implicações psicológicas devido ao aspecto estético são dois aspectos importantes relacionados com as lesões gigantes, influindo também na decisão e na abordagem terapêutica.<br>Congenital melanocytic nevi is present in approximately 1% of new born. The lesions classified as small and medium are relatively common, while giant pigmented nevus, measuring over 20cm in the largest diameter, is a rarer condition, the incidence of which is estimated to be one in every 20 thousand births. The small and medium congenital melanocytic lesions present a low risk of malignant degeneration and this rarely occurs in childhood. On the other hand, there is a risk estimated between 5 to 12% of a melanoma growing from or being related to a giant nevus, furthermore in half of the cases this occurs before three years of age. Besides the possibility of malignant degeneration, the neurological involvement and psychological implications arising from aesthetic aspect are two important factors related to the giant lesions and also influence the therapeutic approach