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Bolsa Família and Household Labour Supply

Author

Listed:
  • Alan de Brauw

    (IPC)

  • Daniel O. Gilligan

    (IPC)

  • John Hoddinott

    (IPC)

  • Shalini Roy

    (IPC)

Abstract

There is considerable debate about whether social protection programs providing transfers to households create disincentives for labor supply, but little attention is paid to the effect of programs on other forms of labor reallocation. This article estimates the impact of Brazil's Bolsa Família program on several dimensions of household labor supply, using propensity-score-weighted regression. We find no disincentive effects on aggregate household labor supply but large effects on labor allocation between sectors and across household members. The program causes a substantial reallocation of labor hours from formal- to informal-sector work. We argue that this shift is plausibly induced by the program's use of formal-sector income to determine means-tested eligibility. The shift toward informal work is observed only in urban areas, not in rural areas--a pattern consistent with larger formal/informal wage differentials in rural areas. We also find reallocation of labor hours from females to males in rural households, with potentially mixed implications for rural women's time burden and decision-making power.
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Suggested Citation

  • Alan de Brauw & Daniel O. Gilligan & John Hoddinott & Shalini Roy, 2014. "Bolsa Família and Household Labour Supply," One Pager Arabic 239, International Policy Centre.
    • Handle: RePEc:ipc:oparab:239
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    2. Bryan, Gharad & Chowdhury, Shyamal & Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq & Morten, Melanie & Smits, Joeri, 2021. "Encouragement and Distortionary Effects of Conditional Cash Transfers," IZA Discussion Papers 14326, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Dian Chen & Xiangming Fang, 2025. "Social assistance and non-agriculture employment in rural China: evidence from the Rural Minimum Living Security (Rural Dibao)," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Jara, H. Xavier & Montesdeoca, Lourdes & Colmenarez, María Gabriela & Moreno, Lorena, 2025. "Two decades of tax-benefit reforms in Ecuador: How much have they contributed to poverty and inequality reduction?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    5. Bosch, Mariano & Schady, Norbert, 2019. "The effect of welfare payments on work: Regression discontinuity evidence from Ecuador," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 17-27.
    6. Eric Draeger, 2021. "Do conditional cash transfers increase schooling among adolescents?," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 743-766, October.
    7. Bryan, Gharad & Chowdhury, Shyamal & Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq & Morten, Melanie & Smits, Joeri, 2023. "Encouragement and distortionary effects of conditional cash transfers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    8. Alan de Brauw & Daniel O. Gilligan & John Hoddinott & Shalini Roy, 2014. "El Programa Bolsa Familia y la Oferta de Trabajo en las Familias," One Pager Spanish 239, International Policy Centre.
    9. H. Xavier Jara & Pia Rattenhuber, 2022. "Female labour supply and informal employment in Ecuador," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-47, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Kotiswaran, Prabha, 2025. "Women’s work, never done, now paid: Assessing Tamil Nadu’s Urimai Thogai scheme," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    11. de Leon, Fernanda L. Lopez & Malde, Bansi & McQuillin, Ben, 2023. "The effects of emergency government cash transfers on beliefs and behaviours during the COVID pandemic: Evidence from Brazil," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 140-155.

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