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This paper examines employees’ earnings inequality in Portugal for 1986-2017 using data from the Personnel Records database. Our objective is twofold: (a) characterize earnings inequality by comparing representative distributions, before and after the great crisis; and (b) investigate the role played by the business cycle on the behaviour of earnings inequality by estimating Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ADL) models. To identify trends and variations along the trend in earnings inequality we use cardinal measures and the coefficient of variation. We inspect the characteristics of earnings distributions in terms of moments (mean and median) and polarization (using relative distributions analysis). The main findings are: (1) earnings inequality shows a positive trend (except during the great crisis); (2) polarization is present in every year, with lower polarisation prevailing over upper polarization, both evolving at different paces (very fast 1989-2002; slower pace 2002-2008; negative growth 2008-2017); (3) the business cycle relationship with earnings inequality is negative.

This paper analyses the fundamentals of the Portuguese crisis. The financial crisis of 2007 worsened and triggered the current Portuguese crisis. We argue that the main problem the economy is facing is its output stagnation due to a kind of Dutch disease that has created high and increasing levels of indebtedness, low and decreasing levels of saving and has reduced Portuguese competitiveness. Moreover, the existence of a dualist labour market and a new wave of emigration produce inefficiency, increasing unemployment of younger workers and the supply of human capital abroad funded by the Portuguese taxpayers. Governance problems such as poor public budget governance and lack of transparency and accountability are also at stake. These governance problems must be solved to allow the economy to return to its long-run growth path.

Climate change is of major relevance to wine production as most of the wine-growing regions of the world, in particular the Douro region, are located within relatively narrow latitudinal bands with average growing season temperatures limited to 13–21°C. This study focuses on the incidence of climate variables and indices that are relevant both for climate change detection and for grape production with particular emphasis on extreme events (e.g. cold waves, storms, heat waves). Dynamical downscaling of MPI-ESM-LR global data forced with RCP8.5 climatic scenario is performed with the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model to a regional scale including the Douro valley of Portugal for recent-past (1986–2005) and future periods (2046–2065; 2081–2100). The number, duration and intensity of events are superimposed over critical phenological phases of the vine (dormancy, bud burst, flowering, véraison, and maturity) in order to assess their positive or negative implications on wine production in the region. An assessment on the statistical significance of climatic indices, their differences between the recent-past and the future scenarios and the potential impact on wine production is performed. Preliminary results indicate increased climatic stress on the Douro region wine production and increased vulnerability of its vine varieties. These results will provide evidence for future strategies aimed to preserve the high-quality wines in the region and their typicality in a sustainable way.