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Social Programs and Formal Employment: Evidence from the Brazilian Bolsa Família Program
Author:
Anna Frutteronull

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Alexandre Ribeiro Leichsenringnull

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Luis Henrique Paivanull

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Series:
IMF Working Papers
Volume/Issue:
Volume 2020: Issue 099
Language:
English
Publication Date:
19 Jun 2020
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513547701.001
ISBN:
9781513547701
ISSN:
1018-5941
Pages:
21
Keywords:
WP; labor market; result; cash transfer programs; job searching; higher-labor-supply individual; treatment effect; labor market participation; labor market formalization; Bolsa Familia program; eligibility cutoff; government program; income effect; job act; formalization of Bolsa Familia beneficiary; Labor markets; Labor supply; Employment; Personal income; Anti Poverty; Poverty; Welfare; Well Being; Informality; Social programs; Brazil; Latin America; labor market outcome; employment relation; labor market job; labor market vis-a-vis
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IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.
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Employment is key to combating poverty. Thus, detractors of social assistance programs argue that they create disincentives to work. While there is substantial evidence showing limited effects of these programs on overall labor supply, the jury is still out with respect to their impact on formal employment. This paper exploits an unannounced change in the eligibility rule of the Bolsa Familia program in Brazil, one of the oldest and largest conditional cash transfers in the world, to identify the causal impact of the program on formal employment, combining three large administrative datasets. This paper finds that the program has a positive effect on entry in formal labor market, especially for younger cohorts.
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Cover IMF Working Papers
IMF Working Papers
ISSN:
1018-5941
Publisher:
International Monetary Fund
Volume 2020: Issue 099