Jorge Rivera presents a new theoretical framework for understanding the relationship between protective public policies and business compliance.

We use household survey data and income-outcome coefficients to analyze fuel tax incidence in Costa Rica. We find that the effect of a 10 percent fuel price hike through direct spending on gasoline would be progressive, its effect through spending on diesel—both directly and via bus transportation—would be regressive (mainly because poorer households rely heavily on buses), and its effect through spending on goods other than fuel and bus transportation would be relatively small, albeit regressive.

This book presents case studies from Pakistan, Costa Rica, South Africa and Ecuador that give a low- and middle-income country perspective on the potential for biofuel development. The focus is on the transport sector as this is the main use of liquid biofuels but co-benefit possibilities for use in domestic lighting, cooking and heating are noted.

Costa Rica’s transport sector contributes to the aggravation of problems such as air pollution, vehicular congestion and traffic accidents that mainly affect the country’s urban areas. In this analysis, stakeholders associated with a key set of transport policies are identified and their roles in current and future policymaking are assessed.

This stakeholder analysis makes it clear that the development and implementation of policies involves a complex interplay of conflicting interests. These conflicts arise for various reasons, including the following: