O programa bolsa família e o mercado de trabalho informal: Uma análise de impacto da ação Brasil carinhoso

Abstract

This paper studied the existence of impacts of the Brazilian cash transfer Brasil Carinhoso in the occupational choice of its beneficiaries, mainly their possible preference for informality. In order to test that, we use treatment and control groups created from PNADs 2011 and 2012, consisting of employed people eligible or potentially eligible for the benefit. The main conclusion points to a significant and negative relationship between the receipt of Brasil Carinhoso benefit and the choice for informality. A possible explanation for that relies in the hypothesis that the benefit might ease liquidity constraints in the search for jobs. Robustness tests, however, do not sustain such conclusion.