From Fome Zero to Bolsa Família: Social policies and poverty alleviation under Lula

Journal of Latin American Studies

Volumn 38, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 689-709

  Hall, Anthony ^a  

^a LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT; POLITICAL INSTABILITY; POVERTY ALLEVIATION; SOCIAL POLICY; SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACT; STATE ROLE;

BRAZIL; SOUTH AMERICA;

EID: 33750377123     PISSN: 0022216X     EISSN: 1469767X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0022216X0600157X     Document Type: Article

References (78)

1. 'Safety nets' is a broad label to describe short-term, targeted interventions for vulnerable households designed to mitigate the immediate effects of poverty and other risks, providing assistance in the form of cash, food, housing, subsidies, fee waivers, scholarships and public works programmes.
2. A. Hall and J. Midgley, Social Policy for Development, Sage (London, 2004).
3. J. Williamson, 'What Washington means by policy reform', in J. Williamson (ed.), Latin American Adjustment: How Much Has Happened? Institute for International Economics (Washington DC, 1990).
4. C. Abel and C. Lewis, 'A Diagnosis of Social Policy in Latin America in the Long Run', in C. Abel and C. Lewis (eds), Exclusion and Engagement: Social Policy in Latin America (London, 2002), pp. 3-71.
5. See G. Cornia, et al., Adjustment with a Human Face (Oxford, 1987)
6. and T. Conway, Social Protection: New Directions for Donor Agencies, DFID (London, 2000).
7. World Bank, Social Protection Strategy Paper: From Safety Net to Springboard (Washington DC, 2000).
8. L. Rawlings, A New Approach to Social Assistance: Latin America's Experience with Conditional Cash Transfer Programs, World Bank (Washington DC, 2004).
9. Ibid., p. 6.
10. Brazil, Orçamento Social do Governo Federal 2001-2004, Ministério da Fazenda, Secretaria de Política Econômica (Brasília, 2005).
11. K. Lindert, 'Bolsa Familia Program - Scaling-Up Cash Transfers for the Poor', MfDR Principles in Action: Sourcebook on Emerging Good Practice, World Bank (Washington DC, 2005).
12. Brazil, Orçamento Social.
13. Smaller CCT projects had already been implemented at municipal level from 1995 onwards in Campinas, Brasília, Blumenau, Belo Horizonte, Victoria, Salvador and Ribeirão Preto. See J. Graziano da Silva, W. Belik and M. Takagi, 'The Challenges of a Policy of Food Security in Brazil', in A. Cimadamore, H. Dean and J. Siqueira (eds), The Poverty of the State: Reconsidering the role of the state in the struggle against global poverty (Buenos Aires, 2005), pp. 157-78.
14. Ibid.
15. Brazil, Orçamento Social.
16. Hall and Midgley, Social Policy for Development, Sage (London, 2004).
17. K. Subbarao, Safety Net Programs and Poverty Reduction: Lessons from Cross Country Experience, World Bank (Washington DC, 1997).
18. World Bank, Putting Social Development to Work for the Poor: An OED Review of World Bank Activities (Washington DC, 2005).
19. IPEA, Políticas Sociais: Acompanhamento e Análise, no. 7, August (2003).
20. 'Unificação na area social fica para 2004', Folha de São Paulo, 10 June (2003).
21. http://www.fomezero.gov.br/
22. World Bank, Project Appraisal Document on a Proposed Adaptable Program Loan to the Federative Republic of Brazil in Support of the First Phase of the Bolsa Família Program (Washington DC, May 25, 2004).
23. 'IDB approves loan of US$1 billion for expansion and consolidation of social protection in Brazil based on the Bolsa Família program', Press Release, 15 December (2004).
24. K. Lindert, 'Bolsa Família Program'. 'Banco Mundial faz elogio ao Bolsa-Família', Folha de São Paulo, 15 February (2006).
25. Rawlings, A New Approach to Social Assistance.
26. Ibid.
27. Brazil, Orçamento Social, p. 24.
28. Ibid. World Bank, Brazil: Equitable, Competitive, Sustainable: Contributions for Debate (Washington DC, 2004).
29. Brazil, Orçamento Social, p. 16.
30. 'Bolsa-Família alivia pobreza, diz governo', Folha de São Paulo, 25 December (2005).
31. 'Queda da pobreza é maior no campo que nas metrópoles ', Folha de São Paulo, 1 January (2006).
32. Ministry of Health, Avaliação Final de Impacto do Programa Bolsa-Alimentação (Brasília, 2004). A similar study is being carried out by the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) in three northeastern municipalities of Bolsa Família impacts upon the local economy, health and nutrition status.
33. This is being undertaken by Centre for Development and Regional Planning (CEDEPLAR) at the Federal University of Minas Gerais.
34. F. Bourgignon, F. Ferreira and P. Leite, 'Conditional Cash Transfers, Schooling and Child Labor: Micro-Simulating Brazil's Bolsa Escola Program', The World Bank Economic Review, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 229-54.
35. Cited by Rawlings, 'A New Approach to Social Assistance', pp. 9-10.
36. E. Cardoso and A. Portlea Souza, 'The Impact of Cash Transfers on Child Labor and School Attendance in Brazil', mimeo, 2003.
37. S. Schwartzman, 'Education-oriented social programs in Brazil: The impact of Bolsa Escola', mimeo, Instituto de Estudos do Trabalho e Sociedade, São Paulo, 2005.
38. Ibid., p. 16.
39. A. de Janvry, et al., 'Brazil's Bolsa Escola Program: The Role of Local Governance in Decentralized Implementation', SP Discussion Paper No. 0542, Social Protection Unit, World Bank (Washington DC, 2005).
40. R. Paes de Barros and M. Carvalho, 'Desafios para a Política Social Brasileira', Textos Para Discussão, No. 985, IPEA (Rio de Janeiro, 2003).
41. M. Neri, 'Designing a System of Social Targets and Social Credit',
42. and M. Medeiros, 'Conditional Flow Transfers in Brazil: Some Problems for Targeting the Poor'. Papers presented at the conference on Overcoming Social Exclusion: Brazil in Comparative Perspective, Centre for Brazilian Studies, University of Oxford, 22 June (2004).
43. E. Suplicy, 'The Approval of the Citizen's Basic Income Bill in Brazil',
44. and G. Standing, 'Promoting Income Security as a Right'. Papers presented at the conference on Overcoming Social Exclusion: Brazil in Comparative Perspective, Centre for Brazilian Studies, University of Oxford, 22 June (2004).
45. B. de la Brière and K. Lindert, Reforming Brazil's Cadastro Único to Improve Targeting of the Bolsa Família Program (Washington DC, 2005).
46. 'Para o TCU, falta de fiscalização prejudica Bolsa-Família', O Estado de São Paulo, 30 September (2004).
47. S. Schwartzman, 'Education-oriented social programs in Brazil', p. 25.
48. Ibid. and Suplicy, 'The Approval...'
49. 'Bolsa-Família supera o mínimo, diz estudo', Folha de São Paulo, 22 June (2004). 'Mínimo deve ser avaliado junto com políticas sociais, diz Palocci', O Estado de São Paulo, 8 June (2004).
50. Suplicy, 'The Approval...'. IPEA, Políticas Sociais: Acompanhamento e Análise, no. 8, February (2004).
51. In a similar vein, human rights activists have for some time advocated the idea of a universal child benefit in cash or kind, designed to guarantee longer-term minimum living standards and have a more sustainable anti-poverty impact. This would be funded through international taxation such as a 'Tobin-style' currency transaction tax to build up an international investment fund for children. The ILO, for example, has a plan for the elimination of child labour over 20 years at a cost of US$95 million, equivalent to less than ten per cent of developing country debt service payments or one-fifth of their defence spending. See, P. Townsend, 'Making Human Rights Stick: Action to Eradicate Poverty', LSE Seminars on Human Rights, London School of Economics, 29 June (2004)
52. and 'The Need for Direct Policies to Fight Child Poverty', In Focus, UNDP, February (2004).
53. R. Paes de Barros and M. Carvalho, 'Desafios para a Política Social Brasileira', Textos Para Discussão, No. 985, IPEA (Rio de Janeiro, 2003).
54. 'Íntegra do discurso de Lula em cerimônia do Bolsa Famíla', O Estado de São Paulo, 23 December (2005).
55. P. Flynn, 'Brazil and Lula, 2005: Crisis, corruption and change in political perspective', Third World Quarterly, vol. 26, no. 8 (2005), p. 1245.
56. 'Bolsa Família é principal razão para subida de Lula', Folha de São Paulo, 26 February (2006). Datafolha research showed that while Lula enjoyed an eight point lead over his political rivals generally in the Northeast, this figure rose to 21 points in the case of Bolsa Família beneficiaries.
57. See also D. Fleischer, Brazil Focus, special report, 22 February (2006).
58. R. M. Marques, 'A importância do Bolsa Familia nos municípios brasileiros', Cadernos de Estudos Desenvolvimento Social em Debate, No. 1, Ministry of Social Development (Brasilia, 2005).
59. 'Bolsa Família deve ser "arma" de Lula em 2006', Terra, 9 October (2005).
60. National household survey (PNAD) data for 2004.
61. In a speech Lula emphasized the fact that, '77 per cent of those living below the poverty line are receiving benefits from Bolsa Família'. See 'Lula faz balanço de programas sociais em Porto Alegre', Folha de São Paulo, 17 February (2006).
62. SECOM, the department responsible for campaign publicity, made no secret of the fact that Bolsa Família would be a high profile area in the elections. See 'Governo acelera gastos em publicidade institucional,', Folha de São Paulo, 19 February (2006).
63. For example, the major of Teófilo Ottoni declared that she had sent letters to all beneficiaries of Bolsa Família and the 'Electricity for All' (Luz para Todos) programmes in her municipality reminding people that these were the personal initiatives of President Lula. This had resulted, she declared to the press, in increased political support for the President amongst the poor. See 'Prefeita relata prática de angariar votos para Lula com programa federal', Folha de São Paulo, 13 February (2006).
64. 'Tucanos preparam plano para seduzir mais pobres', O Estado de São Paulo, 19 February (2006)
65. 'PT e PSDB convergem no diagnóstico sobre o futuro do Bolsa Família ', Valor Econômico, 31 January (2006).
66. 'No NE, Alckmin diz que Bolsa Família não é criação de Lula', O Estado de São Paulo, 22 April, (2006).
67. 'Quitação da dívida do FMI permitirá investir a favor do povo, diz Lula', O Estado de São Paulo, 16 January (2006).
68. IBGE, Segurança Alimentar 2004 (Brasília, 2006).
69. 'Pobres se distanciam de ricos e dependem mãos do governo', Folha de São Paulo, 25 December (2005).
70. Brazil, Orçamento social.
71. S. Schwartzman, 'Education-oriented social programs in Brazil', p. 3. In 2004, non-higher federally funded education accounted for R$4 billion, compared with a Bolsa Família budget of R$5.8 billion, around half of which is allocated to Bolsa Escola.
72. Rawlings, A New Approach to Social Assistance, p. 11.
73. D. de Ferranti, et al., Inequality in Latin America. Breaking with History ? World Bank (Washington DC, 2004).
74. World Bank, World Development Report 2006. Equity and Development (Washington DC, 2005).
75. Nine Brazilian states have their own CCT programmes (Alagoas, Ceará, the federal district of Brasília, Goiás, Mattos Grosso do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo and Tocantins). For example, the 'Citizen's Income' (Renda Cidadã) scheme in Goiás was developed from 2000 to substitute the food parcel programme. It permits registered poor families to receive cash compensation for the purchase of basic foodstuffs. In Rio de Janeiro, the 'Citizen's Cheque' (Cheque Cidadão) initiative was set up in 1999 and distributes shopping vouchers to approved needy families. Several of these CCT projects include vocational training components. See 'Apenas nove estados têm programas próprios de transferência de renda', Valor Econômico, 31 January (2006)
76. and J. Graziano da Silva et al., 'The Challenges of a Policy of Food Security in Brazil'.
77. For other Latin American experiences, see Rawlings, A New Approach to Social Assistance.
78. Abel and Lewis, 'A Diagnosis of Social Policy'.