arXiv subjects

António Curado

Publications and source records attributed to António Curado.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Multi-polarization during the 9th European Parliament

Brexit, a global pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and record inflation - few legislative bodies have faced such a cascade of shocks as the European Parliament did during its 9th term (2019-2024). Using the Bipartite Configuration Model and a set of network statistics, this research explores how multi-polarization was characterized during this term by constructing and analyzing co-voting networks across all legislative subjects and within specific legislative subjects. The results contest binary polarization narratives inherited from US/UK scholarship by uncovering a multi-polar landscape. In many legislative subjects, including "Community policies", "Internal market, single market", and "External relations of the Union", coalitions realign fluidly, forming several voting communities rather than a single left-right divide. Ideological affinity and group memberships, not nationality, emerge as the primary forces that bind or separate Members of the European Parliament, reaffirming the chamber's transnational character. Two quantitative patterns stand out. First, the Greens/EFA and The Left display the highest intragroup cohesion, while governing groups - EPP, S&D, and Renew - often fracture into multiple, issue-driven alliances, suggesting declining centrist disciplines. Second, a distinct Eurosceptic versus Euroenthusiastic cleavage crystallizes in matters concerning the "State and evolution of the Union" subject, cutting across economic and social ideologies and hinting at a budding second dimension of parliamentary conflict. This research highlights how legislative consensus in the European Parliament will hinge on navigating a fluid, multi-polar, issue-driven alliance landscape rather than building stable grand coalitions.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2021

Characterization of the Firm-Firm Public Procurement Co-Bidding Network from the State of Ceará (Brazil) Municipalities

Fraud in public funding can have deleterious consequences for the economic, social, and political well-being of societies. Fraudulent activity associated with public procurement contracts accounts for losses of billions of euros every year. Thus, it is of utmost relevance to explore analytical frameworks that can help public authorities identify agents that are more susceptible to incur in irregular activities. Here, we use standard network science methods to study the co-biding relationships between firms that participate in public tenders issued by the $184$ municipalities of the State of Ceará (Brazil) between 2015 and 2019. We identify $22$ groups/communities of firms with similar patterns of procurement activity, defined by their geographic and activity scopes. The profiling of the communities allows us to highlight groups that are more susceptible to market manipulation and irregular activities. Our work reinforces the potential application of network analysis in policy to unfold the complex nature of relationships between market agents in a scenario of scarce data.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2020

Scaling Behavior of Public Procurement Activity

Public procurement refers to the purchase by public sector entities, such as government departments or local authorities, of Services, Goods, or Works. It accounts for a significant share of OECD countries' expenditures. However, while governments are expected to execute them as efficiently as possible, there is a lack of methodologies for an adequate comparison of procurement activity between institutions at different scales, which represents a challenge for policymakers and academics. Here, we propose using methods from urban scaling laws literature to study public procurement activity among 278 Portuguese municipalities between 2011 and 2018. We find that public procurement expenditure scales sub-linearly with population size, indicating an economy of scale for public spending as cities increase their population size. Moreover, when looking at the municipal Scale-Adjusted Indicators (the deviations from the scaling laws) by contract type -- Works, Goods, and Services -- we obtain a new local characterization of municipalities based on the similarity of procurement activity. These results make up a framework for quantitatively studying local public expenditure by enabling policymakers a more appropriate ground for comparative analysis.

physics.soc-ph↗