ABSTRACT
Considerable debate has arisen over the question of whether or not conditional cash transfer programs (CCTs) affect the labor market. This chapter responds by using ethnographic research in two villages in the drylands of northeastern Brazil. The chapter pays attention to beneficiaries as they discuss, budget and make plans for the money that they receive from Bolsa Família, the world’s largest CCT. The chapter argues that Bolsa Família can impact labor supply by encouraging workers to sort themselves into better employment opportunities. Policy makers have good reasons to ask if Bolsa Família disincentivizes labor market participation. The policy makers’ query, I argue, calls for more than a look at labor force participation rates. Bolsa Família can both encourage workers to quit their jobs and also help workers to find better ones. Rather than imagining that Bolsa Família brings a family into or out of the labor force, it might be more helpful to see how the program permits a family to recalibrate its portfolio of earnings. In particular, Bolsa Família can allow families to devote less time to temporary jobs and more time to self-employment projects such as farms and small businesses. Bolsa Família, in other words, can change the logic through which people engage with work itself.
