Bolsa Familia: impact of transfers on the food expenditures of rural households.

摘要

Conditional income transfer programs are social policies currently adopted to reduce poverty in several countries. These conditional transfer schemes have a goal to alleviate some of the consequences of poverty in the short run and increase human capital in the long run changing the intergenerational poverty cycle. Several papers evaluate the impact of income transfer on school attendance, child work and food expenses, among others. This paper analyzes the impact of the Bolsa Familia Program on food expenses of rural families. The Propensity Score Method was used to correct sample selection bias. Results show that annual food expenses increased 246 reais in relation to non participant families. Considering that average annual transfer to these families is 278 reais, it can be concluded that 88% of the transfer is expend in food products. Thus, Bolsa Familia brings a positive impact on food consumption of the benefited families.