TITLE:
Inequality of Access to Public Services of Basic Sanitation in Brazilian Municipalities: Analysis of Kuznets Curve and Selectivity of Public Policies Hypothesis
AUTHORS:
Welber Tomás de Oliveira, Carlos César Santejo Saiani
KEYWORDS:
Basic Sanitation, Inequality of Access, Economic Growth, Policy Selectivity, Panel Data
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.12 No.1,
January
22,
2021
ABSTRACT: This study investigates the effects of economic growth
and possible political motivations in the distribution of access to public basic
sanitation services in Brazilian municipalities. Along with municipality indicators
relating to inequality of access associated with income and the location of households
in urban or rural areas and using panel econometric estimates, three hypotheses
are checked: 1) the relationship between inequality of access and municipality per capita income in an “inverted-U” shape
based on the Kuznets Curve (KC); or 2) in the shape of an “N”, following KC criticisms;
and 3) the relationship between inequality of access and total access in “inverted-U”
suggesting a possible selectivity in public sanitation policies in Brazil. In general,
the evidence obtained refutes the KC hypothesis and some evidence supports the “N”
shape, especially for spatial inequalities. The evidence is more robust as regards
the hypothesis of selectivity of public policies.