Concentração espacial da indústria de São Paulo: Evidências sobre o papel da disponibilidade de gás natural

Abstract

The use of natural gas has gained ground in the Brazilian energy matrix, especially in the industrial sector. For various segments and industrial processes, the use of natural gas as fuel or raw material represents significant environmental, technical and economic gains. The hypothesis motivating this paper is the potential role of the availability of energy as a promoter of regional development. We defined two main pathways of analysis: (i) assessment of the level of geographical (or spatial) concentration of the industry, whereby we ascertained the existence of distinct patterns for the industry as a whole, as well as a group of sectors defined as heavy users of natural gas (ceramics, textiles and chemicals); and (ii) assessment and mapping of the spatial correlations between employment in manufacturing (a proxy for industrial activity) and the presence of gas pipelines. We found that in the state of São Paulo there is a strong positive correlation between the presence of gas pipelines and the employment level among heavy users, even taking into account the effects of other relevant variables, such as transportation costs, qualification of labor and gains from specialization.