IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecanth/v5y2018i2p261-273.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gendered redistribution and family debt: The ambiguities of a cash transfer program in Brazil

Author

Listed:
  • Ana Flavia Badue
  • Florbela Ribeiro

Abstract

Latin American conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs are usually regarded as policies of social protection that question the neoliberal agenda. This article suggests instead that the Brazilian CCT Bolsa Família (Family Grant) is ambiguous in the sense that it was consolidated in association with policies of expansion of financial markets in the country under the rubric of social rights and female emancipation. To analyze the ambiguities of the program, we first delve into official federal documents and practices, which expose the connections between financialization and cash transfer. Second, we build on ethnographic data investigating the financial lives of Bolsa Família beneficiaries in the city of São Paulo. Our findings suggest that there are two scales at which Bolsa Família is associated with financialization: on the national level, the state†led policy of cash transfer provides the conditions for the expansion of the banking system, and vice versa; on the local level, among the beneficiaries, Bolsa Família and access to credit tools trigger lateral dependencies and family conflicts.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana Flavia Badue & Florbela Ribeiro, 2018. "Gendered redistribution and family debt: The ambiguities of a cash transfer program in Brazil," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 261-273, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecanth:v:5:y:2018:i:2:p:261-273
    DOI: 10.1002/sea2.12122
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sea2.12122
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sea2.12122?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Mosley & Robert Holzmann & Steen Jorgensen, 1999. "Social protection as social risk management: conceptual underpinnings for the social protection sector strategy paper," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(7), pages 1005-1027.
    2. Laura B. Rawlings, 2004. "A New Approach to Social Assistance: Latin America’s Experience with Conditional Cash Transfer Programs," World Bank Publications - Reports 11813, The World Bank Group.
    3. Rawlings, Laura B., 2004. "A new approach to social assistance : Latin America's experience with conditional cash transfer programs," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 30165, The World Bank.
    4. Aaron Z. Pitluck & Fabio Mattioli & Daniel Souleles, 2018. "Finance beyond function: Three causal explanations for financialization," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 157-171, June.
    5. Lena Rethel, 2018. "Capital market development in Southeast Asia: From speculative crisis to spectacles of financialization," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 185-197, June.
    6. Manolis Kalaitzake, 2017. "Death by a Thousand Cuts? Financial Political Power and the Case of the European Financial Transaction Tax," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(6), pages 709-726, November.
    7. Paul Langley, 2018. "Frontier financialization: Urban infrastructure in the United Kingdom," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 172-184, June.
    8. Priscilla Albuquerque Tavares & Elaine Toldo Pazello, 2006. "Uma Avaliação Do Programa Bolsa Escola Federal: Focalização E Impacto Na Distribuição De Renda E Pobreza," Anais do XII Semin·rio sobre a Economia Mineira [Proceedings of the 12th Seminar on the Economy of Minas Gerais], in: João Antonio de Paula & et alli (ed.),Anais do XII Seminário sobre a Economia Mineira [Proceedings of the 12th Seminar on the Economy of Minas Gerais], Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Antoaneta Tileva, 2022. "Anything but micro—no small change: Informality practices at a nonprofit microlender in Washington, DC," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(1), pages 72-83, January.
    2. Maia Green, 2021. "The work of class: Cash transfers and community development in Tanzania," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(2), pages 273-286, June.
    3. Aaron Z. Pitluck & Fabio Mattioli & Daniel Souleles, 2018. "Finance beyond function: Three causal explanations for financialization," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 157-171, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Handa, Sudhanshu & Davis, Benjamin, 2006. "The experience of conditional cash transfers in Latin America and the Caribbean," ESA Working Papers 289060, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
    2. Cecilia Rossel & Denise Courtoisie & Magdalena Marsiglia, 2019. "How could conditional cash transfer programme conditionalities reinforce vulnerability? Non‐compliers and policy implementation gaps in Uruguay's Family Allowances," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 37(1), pages 3-18, January.
    3. World Bank, 2006. "Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development : A Strategy for Large Scale Action," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7409, December.
    4. International Monetary Fund, 2008. "India: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2008/052, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Kalie Pauw & Liberty Mncube, 2007. "Expanding the Social Security Net in South Africa: Opportunities, Challenges and Constraints," Research Report 8, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    6. Bruna Atayde Signorini & Bernardo Lanza Queiroz, 2011. "The impact of Bolsa Família Program in the beneficiary fertility," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG td439, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    7. Alami, Ilias & Alves, Carolina & Bonizzi, Bruno & Kaltenbrunner, Annina & Kodddenbrock, Kai & Kvangraven, Ingrid & Powell, Jeff, 2021. "International financial subordination: a critical research agenda [working paper]," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 33233, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    8. World Bank, 2009. "Guatemala - Poverty assessment : good performance at low levels," World Bank Publications - Reports 3063, The World Bank Group.
    9. Vegas, Emiliana & Santibáñez, Lucrecia, 2010. "The Promise of Early Childhood Development in Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 362.
    10. Ms. Isabell Adenauer & Mr. Javier Arze del Granado, 2011. "Burkina Faso: Policies to Protect the Poor From the Impact of Food and Energy Price Increases," IMF Working Papers 2011/202, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Emiliana Vegas & Lucrecia Santibáñez, 2010. "The Promise of Early Childhood Development in Latin America and the Caribbean," World Bank Publications, The World Bank, number 9385, September.
    12. repec:idb:brikps:362 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Jan J. Rutkowski & Stefano Scarpetta, 2005. "Enhancing Job Opportunities : Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7408, December.
    14. Diane Elson, 2009. "Gender Equality and Economic Growth in the World Bank World Development Report 2006," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 35-59.
    15. Aaron Z. Pitluck & Fabio Mattioli & Daniel Souleles, 2018. "Finance beyond function: Three causal explanations for financialization," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 157-171, June.
    16. World Bank, 2005. "Income Generation and Social Protection for the Poor," World Bank Publications - Reports 8815, The World Bank Group.
    17. Constanza Tabbush, 2010. "Latin American Women's Protection after Adjustment: A Feminist Critique of Conditional Cash Transfers in Chile and Argentina," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 437-459.
    18. Danilo Limoeiro, 2015. "Beyond income transfers: The decline of regional inequality in Brazil during the 2000s," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 15(1), pages 6-21, January.
    19. Guillermo Cruces & Marcelo Bérgolo, 2013. "Informality and Contributory and Non-Contributory Programmes. Recent Reforms of the Social-Protection System in Uruguay," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 31(5), pages 531-551, September.
    20. Alfredo Saad-Filho, 2015. "Social Policy for Neoliberalism: The Bolsa Família Programme in Brazil," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(6), pages 1227-1252, November.
    21. Heinrich, Carolyn J., 2007. "Demand and Supply-Side Determinants of Conditional Cash Transfer Program Effectiveness," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 121-143, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecanth:v:5:y:2018:i:2:p:261-273. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=2330-4847 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.