Open AccessDoes privatization make Brazilian airports more efficient?
Author(s) -
Fernanda Silva Toledo,
Viviane Adriano Falcão,
Flávia de Castro Camioto,
Paulo Afonso Lopes da Silva
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
transportes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2237-1346
pISSN - 1415-7713
DOI - 10.14295/transportes.v29i2.2304
Subject(s) - tobit model , data envelopment analysis , productivity , context (archaeology) , sample (material) , business , production (economics) , index (typography) , productive efficiency , variable (mathematics) , benchmarking , industrial organization , economic efficiency , private sector , environmental economics , economics , econometrics , microeconomics , economic growth , marketing , computer science , mathematical optimization , paleontology , mathematical analysis , chemistry , mathematics , chromatography , world wide web , biology
Airport concessions to private management began in Brazil in 2011 to address infrastructure bottlenecks and the need for investments. Productivity improvements after privatization need to be measured and efficiency gains can help to identify strategic points where to intervene both in current and upcoming concessions. However, previous studies have applied neither the Slacks-Based Measure Data Analysis Envelopment models nor the second stage Tobit regression to evaluate airport efficiency, especially in the context of Brazilian airport privatization. The objective of this study is to verify if privatization contributes to improving Brazilian airports' productive efficiency compared with public airports, using variable slacks and identifying new socio-economic variables that may influence the productive efficiency index. A two-stage SBM-DEA approach found that only 40% of the sample among 28 airports are efficient, evidencing poor management overall, and the slacks show the sectors that need most attention and investments. Based on the productive process and the sample evaluated, the study concludes that privatization of Brazilian airports did not improve their production efficiency. A revision of the contracts in the first round of concessions is suggested, as contractual obligation may result in lower production efficiency.