Spatial Interactions between Energy and Energy-Intensive Sectors in the Brazilian Economy : A Field of Influence Approach

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the spatial interactions among energy-intensive sectors and the Brazilian regional economies. Energy-intensive sectors play an important role in the economy due the strong links with the other economic sectors. For this reason, the knowledge about spatial interactions between these sectors and regional economies allows a more accurate evaluation of the regional impacts of disturbances from energy markets or energy policy. To evaluate these interactions were considered the spatial heterogeneity of both economic activity and the Electricity-intensity of economic sectors. Based on the field of influence method, electricity-intensity coefficients were used to extract the analytically important sectoral and spatial energy links in the Brazilian economy. The results showed that, despite of the fact that the energy-intensive sectors in Brazil are spatially concentrated in the Center-South o Brazil, the most important spatial energy links are not located in this region