The risk of reform : privatisation and liberalisation in the Brazilian electric power industry
Name
77536476-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
13.14 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
06153a3a6762f432b5c7dc4b4267a78c
Author(s)
Tankha, Sunil, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Advisor(s)
Alice Amsden.
Alternative Title
Privatization and liberalization in the Brazilian electric power industry
Date Issued
2006
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
In 1996, when Brazil was well-underway to privatising and liberalising its electric power industry, few would have predicted that within five years the reforms would be a shambles. Like its neighbors Argentina and Chile, Brazil based its electricity reforms on the orthodox therapies of privatisation and liberalisation. The industry was well-positioned to benefit from the reforms: it was technically sophisticated, relatively efficient, and attractive to both domestic and foreign investors. Electricity rates had been suppressed for a long time, but they were not populist and it was the residential customer who cross-subsidised industry. As such, political backlash to increasing electricity prices was unlikely and, in fact, Brazil had successfully begun to raise electricity rates as early as 1993. Despite these fortuitous circumstances, the reforms did not induce sufficient investment and Brazil suffered a massive electricity rationing in 2001. For ten months all classes of consumers had to cut consumption by 20%. By 2002, the electricity reforms were politically dead and none of the candidates in Brazil's presidential elections that year, not even the incumbent administration's nominee, favoured continuing with them.
(cont.) My dissertation explains why the reforms failed, approaching the issue from three different perspectives-the policy, the economic and the industrial. Collectively, these essays explain why sectoral neoliberal reforms had a short shelf-life.
Description
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, February 2006.
Includes bibliographical references.
Subjects
Urban Studies and Planning.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Terms of Use
M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
Persistent DSpace Link
