Álcool Combustível no Brasil e Path Dependence

This study aims to analyze the relationship of path dependence in the economic and institutional system of ethanol in Brazil. Ethanol, after stages of growth and challenges, has become part of the Brazilian energy matrix. This trajectory reflects the persistence of a path shaped under the influence of organizations (mills and distilleries, machinery and equipment sectors, automotive industry, the government, corporatist organizations, R&D) and economic agents (consumers) interested, directly or indirectly, in the maintenance of the chosen route. This “interest arrangements” supported the Brazilian ethanol, even when this fuel competitiveness was questioned as the most appropriate energy option to substitute gasoline/diesel. Even after the recovery of this sector in the 2000s, when the flex-fuel technology and the GHG (Greenhouse Gases) emissions increased the ethanol demand in Brazil and abroad, the choice of ethanol as the main substitute of fossil fuels is still jeopardized by other renewable fuels and even by the discovery of new oil reserves in Brazil. In order to succeed, the collision supporting the expansion of ethanol in the international market will have to handle a myriad of technological and institutional barriers in Brazil and worldwide.