IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ipc/opager/238.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Impact of Bolsa Família on Women’s Decision-Making Power

Author

Listed:
  • Alan de Brauw

    (IPC-IG)

  • Daniel O. Gilligan

    (IPC-IG)

  • John Hoddinott

    (IPC-IG)

  • Shalini Roy

    (IPC-IG)

Abstract

Conditional cash transfer programs with female beneficiaries have scope to increase women’s intrahousehold decision-making power. Yet quantitative evidence is limited. We show that Brazil’s Bolsa Família program has significant impacts on women’s decision making, but with considerable heterogeneity in effects. In aggregate, Bolsa Família significantly increases women’s decision-making power regarding contraception. This effect is driven by urban households, in which Bolsa Família also significantly increases women’s decision-making power in spheres related to children’s school attendance and health expenses, household durable goods purchases, and contraception use. Meanwhile, in rural households, we find no increases and possible reductions in women’s decision-making power.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Alan de Brauw & Daniel O. Gilligan & John Hoddinott & Shalini Roy, 2013. "The Impact of Bolsa Família on Women’s Decision-Making Power," One Pager 238, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    • Handle: RePEc:ipc:opager:238
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ipcig.org/sites/default/files/pub/en/IPCOnePager238.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2013
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Duncan Thomas, 1990. "Intra-Household Resource Allocation: An Inferential Approach," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 25(4), pages 635-664.
    2. John Fitzgerald & Peter Gottschalk & Robert Moffitt, 1998. "An Analysis of Sample Attrition in Panel Data: The Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 33(2), pages 251-299.
    3. Clarissa Gondim Teixeira & Fabio Veras Soares & Elydia Silva & Guilherme Issamu Hirata, 2011. "How Effective are the Non-monetary Components of CCT Programs?," One Pager 129, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    4. Keisuke Hirano & Guido W. Imbens & Geert Ridder, 2003. "Efficient Estimation of Average Treatment Effects Using the Estimated Propensity Score," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(4), pages 1161-1189, July.
    5. Behrman, Jere R., 2010. "The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Mexican PROGRESA Anti-Poverty and Human Resource Investment Conditional Cash," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1473-1485, October.
    6. Guido W. Imbens & Whitney Newey & Geert Ridder, 2005. "Mean-square-error Calculations for Average Treatment Effects," IEPR Working Papers 05.34, Institute of Economic Policy Research (IEPR).
    7. John Fitzgerald & Peter Gottschalk & Robert Moffitt, 1998. "An Analysis of the Impact of Sample Attrition on the Second Generation of Respondents in the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 33(2), pages 300-344.
    8. Jeffrey R Kling & Jeffrey B Liebman & Lawrence F Katz, 2007. "Experimental Analysis of Neighborhood Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(1), pages 83-119, January.
    9. David A. Freedman & Richard A. Berk, 2008. "Weighting Regressions by Propensity Scores," Evaluation Review, , vol. 32(4), pages 392-409, August.
    10. Handa, Sudhanshu & Peterman, Amber & Davis, Benjamin & Stampini, Marco, 2009. "Opening Up Pandora's Box: The Effect of Gender Targeting and Conditionality on Household Spending Behavior in Mexico's Progresa Program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 1129-1142, June.
    11. Ariel Fiszbein & Norbert Schady & Francisco H.G. Ferreira & Margaret Grosh & Niall Keleher & Pedro Olinto & Emmanuel Skoufias, 2009. "Conditional Cash Transfers : Reducing Present and Future Poverty," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2597.
    12. Gustavo J. Bobonis, 2009. "Is the Allocation of Resources within the Household Efficient? New Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 117(3), pages 453-503, June.
    13. M. Fafchamps & A. R. Quisumbing, 2002. "Control and Ownership of Assets Within Rural Ethiopian Households," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(6), pages 47-82.
    14. Agnes R. Quisumbing & John A. Maluccio, 2003. "Resources at Marriage and Intrahousehold Allocation: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and South Africa," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 65(3), pages 283-327, July.
    15. Hoddinott, John & Haddad, Lawrence, 1995. "Does Female Income Share Influence Household Expenditures? Evidence from Cote d'Ivoire," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 57(1), pages 77-96, February.
    16. Chiappori, Pierre-Andre, 1988. "Rational Household Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(1), pages 63-90, January.
    17. Orazio Attanasio & Valérie Lechene, 2010. "Conditional cash transfers, women and the demand for food," IFS Working Papers W10/17, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    18. Alberto Abadie & Guido W. Imbens, 2006. "Large Sample Properties of Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(1), pages 235-267, January.
    19. Angelucci Manuela, 2008. "Love on the Rocks: Domestic Violence and Alcohol Abuse in Rural Mexico," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-43, October.
    20. Shelly Lundberg & Robert A. Pollak, 1996. "Bargaining and Distribution in Marriage," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 139-158, Fall.
    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. Samb, Oumar Mallé & Ridde, Valery, 2018. "The impact of free healthcare on women's capability: A qualitative study in rural Burkina Faso," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 9-16.
    2. Campoli, Jessica Suárez & Alves Júnior, Paulo Nocera & Rossato, Fabrícia Gladys Fernandes da Silva & Rebelatto, Daisy Aparecida do Nascimento, 2020. "The efficiency of Bolsa Familia Program to advance toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): A human development indicator to Brazil," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    3. Senay Sokullu & Christine Valente, 2022. "Individual consumption in collective households: Identification using repeated observations with an application to PROGRESA," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(2), pages 286-304, March.
    4. Levasseur Karine & Paterson Stephanie & Carvalho Moreira Nathalia, 2018. "Conditional and Unconditional Cash Transfers: Implications for Gender," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, June.
    5. Malerba, Daniele, 2020. "Poverty alleviation and local environmental degradation: An empirical analysis in Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    6. Antonia Grohmann & Annekathrin Schoofs, 2018. "Financial Literacy and Intra-Household Decision Making: Evidence from Rwanda," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1720, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    7. Sayed Samer Ali Al-shami & R. M. Razali & Nurulizwa Rashid, 2018. "The Effect of Microcredit on Women Empowerment in Welfare and Decisions Making in Malaysia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(3), pages 1073-1090, June.
    8. Schüring, Esther, 2014. "Preferences for Community-based Targeting - Field Experimental Evidence from Zambia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 360-373.
    9. Bergolo, Marcelo & Galván, Estefanía, 2018. "Intra-household Behavioral Responses to Cash Transfer Programs. Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 100-118.
    10. Cooper, Jan E. & Dow, William H. & de Walque, Damien & Keller, Ann C. & McCoy, Sandra I. & Fernald, Lia C.H. & Balampama, Marianna P. & Kalolella, Admirabilis & Packel, Laura J. & Wechsberg, Wendee M., 2017. "Female sex workers use power over their day-to-day lives to meet the condition of a conditional cash transfer intervention to incentivize safe sex," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 148-157.
    11. Roy, Shalini & Ara, Jinnat & Das, Narayan & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2015. "“Flypaper effects” in transfers targeted to women: Evidence from BRAC's “Targeting the Ultra Poor” program in Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 1-19.
    12. de Brauw, Alan & Gilligan, Daniel O. & Hoddinott, John & Roy, Shalini, 2015. "The Impact of Bolsa Família on Schooling," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 303-316.
    13. Seymour, Greg & Peterman, Amber, 2018. "Context and measurement: An analysis of the relationship between intrahousehold decision making and autonomy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 97-112.
    14. Fernandez, Antonia & Della Giusta, Marina & Kambhampati, Uma S., 2015. "The Intrinsic Value of Agency: The Case of Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 92-107.
    15. Morton, Gregory Duff, 2019. "The power of lump sums: Using maternity payment schedules to reduce the gender asset gap in households reached by Brazil’s Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 352-367.
    16. Hongyun Zheng & Yuwen Zhou & Dil Bahadur Rahut, 2023. "Smartphone use, off‐farm employment, and women's decision‐making power: Evidence from rural China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 1327-1353, August.
    17. Dasgupta, Utteeyo & Mani, Subha, 2015. "Only Mine or All Ours: Do Stronger Entitlements Affect Altruistic Choices in the Household," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 363-375.
    18. Independent Evaluation Group, 2014. "Social Safety Nets and Gender : Learning from Impact Evaluations and World Bank Projects," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 21365.
    19. Peterman, Amber & Schwab, Benjamin & Roy, Shalini & Hidrobo, Melissa & Gilligan, Daniel, 2015. "Measuring women’s decisionmaking: Indicator choice and survey design experiments from cash and food transfer evaluations in Ecuador, Uganda, and Yemen:," IFPRI discussion papers 1453, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    20. James Manley & Vanya Slavchevska, 2019. "Are cash transfers the answer for child nutrition in sub‐Saharan Africa? A literature review," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 37(2), pages 204-224, March.

    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. Morton, Gregory Duff, 2019. "The power of lump sums: Using maternity payment schedules to reduce the gender asset gap in households reached by Brazil’s Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 352-367.
    2. José L. Casco, 2024. "Intra-household resource shares under poverty transfers: evidence from Ecuador," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1243-1274, September.
    3. Bergolo, Marcelo & Galván, Estefanía, 2018. "Intra-household Behavioral Responses to Cash Transfer Programs. Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 100-118.
    4. Casco José L., 2022. "Intra-household Resource Shares under Poverty Transfers: Evidence from Ecuador," Working Papers 2022-03, Banco de México.
    5. de Brauw, Alan & Gilligan, Daniel O. & Hoddinott, John F. & Roy, Shalini, 2014. "The impact of Bolsa Família on schooling: Girls’ advantage increases and older children gain:," IFPRI discussion papers 1319, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Denni Tommasi, 2016. "Household Responses to cash Transfers," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2016-20, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    7. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    8. Jaime Andrés Sarmiento Espinel, 2012. "Parental investment in their children’s education," Serie documentos de trabajo del Centro de Estudios Económicos 2012-09, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos.
    9. Matthias Doepke & Michèle Tertilt, 2019. "Does female empowerment promote economic development?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 309-343, December.
    10. Xu, Zeyu, 2007. "A survey on intra-household models and evidence," MPRA Paper 3763, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. David K. Evans & Anna Popova, 2017. "Cash Transfers and Temptation Goods," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(2), pages 189-221.
    12. Charlotte Ringdal & Ingrid Hoem Sjursen, 2021. "Household Bargaining and Spending on Children: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(350), pages 430-455, April.
    13. Rafael Novella & Laura Ripani & Claudia Vazquez, 2021. "Conditional cash transfers, female bargaining power and parental labour supply," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 422-436, March.
    14. de Brauw, Alan & Gilligan, Daniel O. & Hoddinott, John & Roy, Shalini, 2015. "The Impact of Bolsa Família on Schooling," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 303-316.
    15. Denni Tommasi, 2015. "How Cash Transfers Improve Child Development," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2015-19, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    16. Tommasi, Denni, 2019. "Control of resources, bargaining power and the demand of food: Evidence from PROGRESA," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 265-286.
    17. Echeverría, Lucía, 2020. "Modelos colectivos de consumo y distribución intra-hogar. Teoría y aplicaciones," Nülan. Deposited Documents 3832, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    18. LaFave, Daniel & Thomas, Duncan, 2017. "Extended families and child well-being," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 52-65.
    19. van den Bold, Mara & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Gillespie, Stuart, 2013. "Women’s empowerment and nutrition: An evidence review:," IFPRI discussion papers 1294, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    20. De Rock, Bram & Cherchye, Laurens & Chiappori, Pierre-André & Ringdal, Charlotte & Vermeulen, Frederic, 2021. "Feed the children," CEPR Discussion Papers 16482, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    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:ipc:opager:238. 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: Andre Lyra (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ipcunbr.html .

    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.