Lessons Learned from Brazil’s Experience with Fossil-Fuel Subsidies and their Reform (GSI)

This paper by the Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) analyzes the history of attempted fossil fuel reforms in Brazil from the 1930s until the 2000s. It examines the rationale used by governments to justify these subsidies and the interest groups which benefited from them. It concludes that energy subsidies can have an adverse impact on overall economic growth and can reinforce social inequalities. Finally, the Brazilian example shows how subsidies can become deeply entrenched and that subsidies are fragile.