A Letter on the Distributional Impact of Electricity Subsidies in Argentina: Conceptual Framework and Measurement

Argentina has massively subsidized energy in recent decades and the distributional impact of this policy has been extensively studied. However, previous research has generally omitted the consideration of public financing. We extend the analysis in this direction with a conceptual framework and measurement for the electricity sector. Results indicate that omitting subsidies’ financing biases the belief about their redistributive effect. Globally relevant policy recommendations can be derived from the letter.