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

Abstract

Evidence suggests that insufficient household income can lead to labour supplementation by children and adolescents. The pressure on them to enter the labour market results in less time available for school activities and, ultimately, in school drop-out. Thus most impact evaluations of conditional or unconditional cash transfer programmes tend to pay special attention to programmes’ impacts on children’s and adolescents’ school attendance and participation in the labour market. In a cyclical fashion, the so called ‘substitution effect’ of work for school reproduces a reality experienced by low-income parents, derived from low schooling levels, for future generation

Evidence suggests that insufficient household income can lead to labour supplementation by children and adolescents. The pressure on them to enter the labour market results in less time available for school activities and, ultimately, in school drop-out. Thus most impact evaluations of conditional or unconditional cash transfer programmes tend to pay special attention to programmes’ impacts on children’s and adolescents’ school attendance and participation in the labour market. In a cyclical fashion, the so called ‘substitution effect’ of work for school reproduces a reality experienced by low-income parents, derived from low schooling levels, for future generation