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Who pays and who gains from fuel policies in Brazil?

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  • Khanna, Madhu
  • Nuñez, Hector M.
  • Zilberman, David

Abstract

Brazil has pursued a mix of policy interventions in the fuel sector to achieve multiple objectives of economic and social development, promoting biofuels and reducing dependence on oil. We develop an economic framework to provide insight on the fuel policy choices in Brazil and to analyze the trade-offs they have engendered in the fuel and sugar sectors. We also examine their distributional impacts on producers and consumers in the sugar, oil and biofuel sectors and on government revenues. Additionally, we undertake a normative analysis for the purpose of comparing the welfare and environmental impacts of existing policies with those justified by the goal of maximizing social welfare and addressing market failure. The ex-post analysis of the outcomes for different stakeholders in the fuel and sugar sectors provides insights on the likely political-economic factors guiding policy choices. We find that the status quo policies are likely to have been motivated by the objectives of increasing oil exports, raising government revenue and promoting rural development through the sugarcane sector and have had a significant adverse effect on fuel and sugar consumers, aggregate social welfare and greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil.

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  • Khanna, Madhu & Nuñez, Hector M. & Zilberman, David, 2016. "Who pays and who gains from fuel policies in Brazil?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 133-143.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:54:y:2016:i:c:p:133-143
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2015.11.001
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    2. Karel Janda & Ladislav Kristoufek, 2019. "The relationship between fuel and food prices: Methods, outcomes, and lessons for commodity price risk management," CAMA Working Papers 2019-20, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    3. Chen, Zi-yue & Nie, Pu-yan, 2016. "Effects of carbon tax on social welfare: A case study of China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1607-1615.
    4. Ondřej Filip & Karel Janda & Ladislav Krištoufek, 2018. "Ceny biopaliv a souvisejících komodit: analýza s použitím metod minimální kostry grafu a hierarchických stromů [Prices of Biofuels and Related Commodities: an Analysis Using Methods of Minimum Span," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2018(2), pages 218-239.
    5. Aloisio S. Nascimento Filho & Hugo Saba & Rafael G. O. dos Santos & João Gabriel A. Calmon & Marcio L. V. Araújo & Eduardo M. F. Jorge & Thiago B. Murari, 2021. "Analysis of Hydrous Ethanol Price Competitiveness after the Implementation of the Fossil Fuel Import Price Parity Policy in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-12, September.
    6. Charlotte Stead & Zia Wadud & Chris Nash & Hu Li, 2019. "Introduction of Biodiesel to Rail Transport: Lessons from the Road Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, February.
    7. Coelho, Suani Teixeira & Sanches-Pereira, Alessandro & Tudeschini, Luís Gustavo & Goldemberg, José, 2018. "The energy transition history of fuelwood replacement for liquefied petroleum gas in Brazilian households from 1920 to 2016," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 41-52.
    8. Zhong, Jia & Khanna, Madhu & Chen, Xiaoguang, 2017. "Going Beyond the Blend Wall: Policy Incentives for Fuel Consumers to Supplement the Renewable Fuel Standard," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258483, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Deepayan Debnath & Madhu Khanna & Deepak Rajagopal & David Zilberman, 2019. "The Future of Biofuels in an Electrifying Global Transportation Sector: Imperative, Prospects and Challenges," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(4), pages 563-582, December.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Biofuel mandate; Fuel taxes; Consumer and producer surplus; partial equilibrium Model; Social welfare; GHG emissions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • Q4 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy

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