Privatization and access inequality to sanitation services in Brazil

Abstract

This article estimates the effects of the privatization of basic sanitation on the household access to water and sewage networks, assessing its impact on access inequality within and among municipalities. Privatization is associated with an increase of 6.1 percentage points in access to sewage, which rep¬resents an increase of 26%. This effect is also observed for all quintiles of household income. Moreover, privatization increased access to water and sewage mainly in the most disadvantaged municipalities, which indicates a reduction in inequality across municipalities.