Evaluating Energy Policies through the Use of a Hybrid Quantitative Indicator-Based Approach: The Case of Mercosur

Thauan Santos, Amaro Olímpio Pereira Júnior and Emilio Lèbre La Rovere
Additional contact information
Thauan Santos: Energy Planning Program (PPE/COPPE/UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro 21941-450, Brazil
Amaro Olímpio Pereira Júnior: Energy Planning Program (PPE/COPPE/UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro 21941-450, Brazil
Emilio Lèbre La Rovere: Energy Planning Program (PPE/COPPE/UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro 21941-450, Brazil

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: This paper evaluates the performance of energy policies in the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), a regional initiative consisting of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, but also considering Venezuela (full member since mid-2012) and Bolivia (full participation under negotiation since 2015). The methodology is based on a qualitative-quantitative approach. First, we provide a critical review of the literature on energy security. Then, we carry out a comparative analysis of energy policies in Mercosur countries, concluding that there is no harmonization between them. Next, we offer the new concept of socio-environmental-energy security (SEES) as a more suitable approach to deal with current challenges, providing a hybrid quantitative indicator-based approach to the SEES index. Ergo, after defining the indicators, selecting the data, carrying out a normalization process, assigning weights and aggregating data points, the SEES composite index is generated. We suggest that energy integration can contribute to better regional performance in terms of energy policies and that the SEES index can guide policy makers and investments, replacing the old-fashioned concept of energy security.

Keywords: energy security; energy indicators; developing countries; Mercosur (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/12/2140/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/12/2140/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:12:p:2140-:d:123147

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().