Efficiency and regulation in the sanitation sector in Brazil

Regulation in the sanitation sector in Brazil is facing a great deal of debate regarding the government level at which conceding authority should reside and how private operators can fulfill social objectives. The main objective of this study is to show that these issues are not the crucial barriers to the sector's development when one looks at the operators' productivity performance. Therefore, we undertake a detailed analysis of the productivity level of the current structure of the sanitation sector in Brazil. In doing so, we are able to analyze how jurisdiction of operators as well as the nature of the management, either private or public, has affected performance of the current operators. Moreover, we investigate how the absence of tariff regulation has dissipated efficiencies and allowed charging monopolistic tariffs.