Conditional cash transfers, schooling, and child labor: Micro-simulating Brazil's Bolsa Escola program

François Bourguignon, Francisco H.G. Ferreira, Phillippe G. Leite

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

A growing number of developing economies are providing cash transfers to poor people that require certain behaviors on their part, such as attending school or regularly visiting health care facilities. A simple ex ante methodology is proposed for evaluating such programs and used to assess the Bolsa Escola program in Brazil. The results suggest that about 60 percent of poor 10- to 15-year-olds not in school enroll in response to the program. The program reduces the incidence of poverty by only a little more than one percentage point, however, and the Gini coefficient falls just half a point. Results are better for measures more sensitive to the bottom of the distribution, but the effect is never large.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)229-254
Number of pages26
JournalWorld Bank Economic Review
Volume17
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2003

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Accounting
  • Development
  • Finance
  • Economics and Econometrics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Conditional cash transfers, schooling, and child labor: Micro-simulating Brazil's Bolsa Escola program'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this