Over the past two decades, poverty and income inequality declined sharply in Espírito Santo. About half of the observed reduction in poverty was due to the concomitant and also sharp drop in inequality that characterized the period under review. This sharp reduction in poverty and inequality,...

The degree of poverty among capixabas unemployed adults with low education is three times the average of the whole population. Moreover, given the more volatile nature of poverty in this group, their access to more traditional safety nets such as the Bolsa Família, should be much more limited,...

This text describes in detail how to simulate the poverty impacts of changes in the entitlement rules and benefit values of the Bolsa Família Program. This simulation is especially challenging due to: i) the absence of a specific question on Bolsa Família income in the PNAD household survey...

The goal of the Cadastro Único para Programas Sociais (CadÚnico) is the registration and maintenance of updated information of all Brazilian families with per capita income less than R$ 120.00. Although the use of CadÚnico continues focusing on the selection of beneficiaries of the Bolsa...

The progress occurred over the last decade is undeniable, combining less poverty, with more choice and access to better services, as well as better use of these services by families with children. However, more important than the speed of progress may be the fact that it was clearly equalizing....

This study aims to propose principles that are fully compatible with the historical evolution of the Bolsa Família program and with its current dimension. These principles provide the size of the population to be served and the magnitude of benefits to be granted for any scenario of growth in...

Arguments against means-tested cash transfers for the poor based upon labor supply appear both in the specialized literature and in the media. It is possible to make a microeconomic argument pointing to a reduction in labor supply on the part of beneficiaries of a targeted cash transfer. This...

This text attempts to estimate the impacts of Bolsa Família upon grade repetition using matched data from the Single Registry, the Attendance Project and the annual school censuses. Three approaches are used: i) comparison of results for poor children in the Single Registry with and without the...

Welfare-to-work measures are a central theme of Israel’s labour and social policies to tackle relative poverty, which is concentrated among the Arab-Israeli and Ultra-orthodox (Haredi) communities. Policies include pilot programmes involving private-sector job placement (the “Wisconsin”...

Hungarian family policy focuses on providing generous options to take time off work to look after children. This system not only contributes to Hungary’s low employment rate but encourages long separation from the labour market, has largely failed to significantly influence fertility rates and...