Women's Empowerment and Conditional Cash Transfers: Evidence from Brazil's Bolsa Familia Program
Delela, Gabriela Crestina
2021
-
Research has shown that increasing women’s empowerment is key to economic growth and development. In this study, I address the following question: do Bolsa Família conditional cash transfers in Brazil impact women’s decision-making power within the household? To answer this question, I use data from the latest Demographic and Health Survey conducted in Brazil in 2006 to apply a regression discontinuity ... read moredesign as my empirical methodology. I exploit variation in eligibility that happens at the age of the youngest child: the program becomes unavailable to households with children older than 16. Contrary to literature, I find no evidence that Bolsa Família cash transfers impact women’s empowerment levels. In contrast, I analyze another social welfare program in Brazil, finding evidence that a youth labor law causes women to drop out of the labor force and decreases their empowerment levels by 33 percent. These results contribute to the literature by showing that cash transfers may not guarantee greater levels of women’s empowerment. In addition, social programs that substitute for women’s paid labor force participation can result in lower levels of empowerment.
An Honors Thesis for the Department of Economics at Tufts University
Advisor: Dr. Kyle Emerickread less - ID:
- tq57p537w
- To Cite:
- TARC Citation Guide EndNote
- Usage:
- Detailed Rights
