A Substitute for Substitution: Bolsa Família’s Effects on the Combination of Work And School for Children and Adolescents Aged 10-18

Abstract

In the evaluation of conditional or unconditional cash transfer programmes, research that examines their effects on children’s and adolescents’ school performance and participation in the labour market figures prominently. The programme effect is important because such programmes are designed with a view to fighting the so-called ‘poverty trap’. In general terms, prior analyses have claimed that insufficient household income, due largely to low levels of human capital of members of economically active age — especially parents — requires hourly labour supplementation by children and adolescents. As a result, this pressure for children and adolescents to enter the labour market results in less time available for school activities and, ultimately, in school drop-out. In a cyclical fashion, the substitution of work for school reproduces the reality experienced by low-income parents, derived from low schooling levels, for future generations.