The social costs of production and the structure of technology in the Brazilian ethanol industry: A cost-benefit analysis and an infant industry evaluation, 1978-1987

Miscellaneous · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:7076145

Rask, K N

Only one country, Brazil, has developed an economy-wide liquid fuel industry which directly substitutes for gasoline. The experience of sugar-cane-based ethanol production in Brazil provides an important case study in the economic efficiency of this petroleum substitute. Partial equilibrium cost-benefit analysis is used to evaluate the net social benefits of ethanol production over the decade beginning in 1978. Ethanol production from the southern region of Brazil is found to be an economically efficient substitute for petroleum when world oil prices are over $20 per barrel. Ethanol production in the northern Brazil has never been economic and will not be until oil prices rise above $40 per barrel. The second half of this thesis uses applied production analysis to determine the source of the ethanol unit cost reductions. For sugar-cane production, a modified symmetric generalized McFadden cost function which includes fixed factors of production is estimated. There is little evidence of technical progress and no evidence of increasing returns to scale in sugar-cane production.

• Research Organization: Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)
• OSTI ID: 7076145
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph.D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
BRAZIL
SYNTHETIC FUELS INDUSTRY
ETHANOL FUELS
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
SUGAR CANE
ALCOHOL FUELS
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
FUELS
GRAMINEAE
INDUSTRY
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
LATIN AMERICA
LILIOPSIDA
MAGNOLIOPHYTA
PLANTS
REEDS
SOUTH AMERICA
SYNTHETIC FUELS
093000* - Biomass Fuels- Economic
Industrial
& Business Aspects- (1990-)
295000 - Energy Planning & Policy- Hydrogen & Synthetic Fuels