Eficácia da institucionalização de regiões metropolitanas no Brasil: análise da evolução dos serviços de saneamento urbano

Abstract

This paper attempts to verify whether or not the legal creation of metropolitan regions in Brazil was effective in the sense of improving the supply of some metropolitan services. The evolution of sewerage services in metropolitan municipalities during the period 1970/80 is compared with that of some non-metropolitan cities. The hypothesis that such an institutional act would significantly affect the supply of this kind of service is econometrically tested, and rejected. The paper finishes by pointing out that the lack of specific policy instruments, especially those financial in nature, is at the origin of the detected ineffectiveness.