Sonia Rocha - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Published Articles by Sonia Rocha

Pesquisa e Planejamento Economico , 2002

This article estimates the distributive impact of the individual income tax, which is defined as ... more This article estimates the distributive impact of the individual income tax, which is defined as the reduction of income inequality among families as measured by Gini coefficients before and after the income tax. Micro-data from the PNAD were used to simulate income tax criteria as they depend on income and other characteristics of persons within the family. Tax rates and the deduction referring to dependents had a very mild distributive impact along the entire 1981-1999 period, reducing by 5.2% maximum the Gini coefficient relative to gross income. The 1999 simulation considering all authorized deductions made clear their regressive character, since they brought to practically zero the total distributive impact of the income tax. The conclusions are twofold. On the one hand, since the distributive impact of the income tax is negligible, the importance of this tax remains solely as source of revenue. On the other hand, direct income transfers to families at the bottom of the income distribution are much more efficient in reducing inequality than the income tax.

Resumo
Este artigo teve como objetivo mensurar o impacto distributivo do imposto de renda pessoa física, entendido como a redução da desigualdade de renda entre as famílias, medida pelo coeficiente de Gini, antes e depois do imposto. Foram utilizados micro-dados da PNAD para simular as regras de aplicação do imposto a partir de rendimentos e outras características das pessoas. A aplicação das alíquotas e da dedução de dependente teve um efeito distributivo fraco em todo o período 1981-1999, reduzindo no máximo em 5,2% o coeficiente de Gini da renda bruta. A simulação relativa a 1999, com aplicação de alíquotas e a totalidade das deduções autorizadas, evidencia o caráter regressivo das deduções, o que torna praticamente nulo o impacto distributivo do imposto. Conclui-se, por um lado, que o impacto distributivo do imposto é negligenciável, o que limita a sua importância ao papel como fonte de arrecadação. Por outro lado, que transferências diretas para famílias no extremo inferior da distribuição são muito mais eficazes para reduzir a desigualdade de renda do que o imposto de renda.

Cadernos INESP, 2011

This text presents the poverty trend in Brazil from 1990 to 2009, highlighting the economic backg... more This text presents the poverty trend in Brazil from 1990 to 2009, highlighting the economic background, as well as the changes in the perception of poverty and in public policy to deal with it.

Anais do XVI Congresso Brasileiro de Sociologia, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil , 2009

This note presents the basic facts about the results on poverty and extreme poverty in Brazil de... more This note presents the basic facts about the results on poverty and extreme poverty in Brazil derived from the 2007 National Household Survey (PNAD). The results were obtained using the income approach and 23 locally specific poverty and extreme poverty lines.

Revista Economia, 2012

Este texto reune evidencias empiricas recentes sobre a queda da desigualdade de renda no Brasil. ... more Este texto reune evidencias empiricas recentes sobre a queda da desigualdade de renda no Brasil. O ponto de partida e a contribuicao de cada tipo de renda para a queda do coeficiente de Gini da renda domiciliar per capita no periodo 1997-2009. Discutem-se a seguir as caracteristicas de funcionamento do mercado de trabalho, ja que o rendimento do trabalho foi responsavel por 69% da queda da desigualdade no periodo. As transferencias previdenciarias e assistenciais sao analisadas quanto ao seu impacto sobre a queda da desigualdade, assim como quanto as suas potencialidades distributivas associadas a mudancas nas regras dos sistemas.

This text presents recent empirical evidence on the fall of income inequality in Brazil.
As background we present the contribution of different types of income for the decline of the Gini coefficient of household per capita income. Then, we discuss how the workings of the labor market led to the major share – 69% – of the decline of income inequality in the period. We analyse Social Security and means-tested cash transfers in what concerns their role for reducing inequality, as well as the potential for increasing their distributive role, which depends on changes of institutional rules in both systems.

Economia e Sociedade , 2003

Since 1967, when the National Household Survey (PNAD) was created in Brazil, the investigation of... more Since 1967, when the National Household Survey (PNAD) was created in Brazil, the investigation of income has been through a series of changes so as to obtain the value of different components of individual income more accurately and thoroughly. Based on the PNAD as it is designed today, this article is aimed at evaluating conceptual and methodological questions involved in the investigation of income items, and to suggest some changes that, if contemplated, could improve the income information obtained. Income data collected refer to all sources of income of individuals in each household in the sample - such as labor income, the different social security benefits, rent, cash transfers, etc.. These individual incomes are combined to obtain family income and household income, which are key variables for studies on income distribution and income inequality. To restrict our object, we have taken for granted that the survey will maintain its basic characteristic, that is, it will take place only once a year, having September as its month of reference.

Nova Economia, 2019

The aim of this article is threefold. Firstly, to present income-based poverty and extreme povert... more The aim of this article is threefold. Firstly, to present income-based poverty and extreme poverty indicators for 2015, when the macroeconomic crisis led to a generalized deterioration affecting all areas and regions. The second aim is to discuss long-term evolution, emphasizing the period since 2004, when sustained improvement of income indicators as well as convergence of regional and area results began. Considering the period from 2004 to 2014/2015, the third aim is to show that the reduction in poverty and extreme poverty was parallel to increased inequality in poverty regarding two critical aspects: the regional aspect, since inequality among the five regions became higher, thus reinforcing the dichotomy between the North/Northeast versus the Centre-South; the age aspect, because the recent improvements since 2004 have not sufficiently benefited children as to reverse their disadvantaged position, so much so that in 2015 children still had a share in poverty that was tw...

Nova Economia, 2003

This article presents the basic characteristics of precocious labor in Brazil in the nineties. S... more This article presents the basic characteristics of precocious labor in Brazil in the nineties. Since the age the individual started to work do not seem to be an important determinant of future income, we examined the aspects related to it,such as school attendance and the incidence of hard labor. As precocious labor still involves large contingents of children in Brazil, under quite different working conditions, it is essential to distinguish the most critical situations in order to subsidize social policy design targeted at specific clienteles

O objetivo deste texto e sistematizar algumas caracteristicas basicas do trabalho exercido por criancas de 10 a 14 anos no Brasil nos anos noventa. Como, considerando apenas a idade de ingresso no mercado de trabalho, a ocorrencia do trabalho precoce nao parece ser um determinante importante da renda futura, passa-se a examinar aspectos relevantes relacionados a ele, tais como frequencia a escola e incidencia de atividades penosas. A ocorrencia do trabalho precoce, ainda em larga escala e sob condicoes muito diferenciadas, torna indispensavel distinguir as situacoes criticas que demandam a aplicacao de mecanismos especificos de politica social, seja para a protecao das criancas, hoje, seja para evitar a perpetuacao da pobreza, no futuro.

Caderno CRH , 2008

This text presents empirical evidence on the way young people have recently entered the labor mar... more This text presents empirical evidence on the way young people have recently entered the labor market in Brazil. The departing point is the transition from school to work for the large contingent of 6 to 25 year old individuals. As 18 years old is a natural benchmarket, because it still represents the moment when work becomes more important than school attendance in Brazil, we focused on the changes in the labor market for 18 to 25 year olders from 1996 to 2005. The analysis shows these youngsters are in particularly vulnerable condition under rapid structural changes that affect all workers. Considering the very low level of qualification of 30% of the youngsters, who have not completed the basic school cycle, specific public policy mechanisms must be conceived in order to reduce their educational disadvantage.

Este texto tem como objetivo apresentar elementos empíricos recentes sobre a inserção dos jovens no mercado de trabalho. Como ponto de partida, trata-se da transição entre escola e trabalho para o contingente amplo de indivíduos de 6 a 25 anos. Como a idade de 18 anos caracteriza um limite natural a partir do qual o trabalho é mais importante que a escola, examinam-se as mudanças de inserção no mercado de trabalho dos jovens de 18 a 25 anos entre 1996 e 2005, o que evidencia a sua situação particularmente vulnerável num quadro de mudanças estruturais, que afetam todos os trabalhadores. Considerando a baixíssima qualificação de 30% desses jovens, que não completaram o ensino fundamental, medidas de política pública voltadas para a redução drástica do seu déficit educacional se configuram como a forma mais efetiva de reduzir a vulnerabilidade dos jovens e melhorar as condições de sua inserção no mercado de trabalho. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: trabalho, jovens, qualificação, atividade.

Economica , 2007

The aim of this article is two faced. Firstly, to present the advantages of adopting for diagnosi... more The aim of this article is two faced. Firstly, to present the advantages of adopting for diagnosis and planning a country-wide spatial framework in which the individual areas have similar demographic size. Secondly, to illustrate the use of this spatial framework, constituted by the so-called Units of Homogenous Population (UPH), for establishing extreme poverty indicators for the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The indicators at the UPH level show a heterogeneity at the county level, which is masked when we use the official political boundaries at the county level. Using contiguity, homogeneity and population size criteria, the process of constructing the UPHs resulted in 138 spatial units in the State of Rio de Jnaeiro. The text presents results relative to the spatialization of extreme poverty in the state of Rio de Janeiro and compare them to the results at the county level.

Este texto tem um duplo objetivo. Por um lado, apresentar as vantagens de se adotar, para fins de diagnóstico e planejamento, um quadro de referência espacial de abrangência nacional, em que as unidades de área têm tamanho populacional semelhante. Por outro lado, exemplificar o uso desta malha
espacial, constituída pelas chamadas Unidades de População Homogênea
(UPH), no estabelecimento de indicadores de pobreza extrema no Estado do
Rio de Janeiro. Os indicadores em nível de UPHs permitem evidenciar a heterogeneidade intramunicipal – que é mascarada quando se utiliza a malha municipal –, assim como orientar em relação às prioridades de política pública no
Estado. Utilizando critérios de contigüidade, homogeneidade e tamanho populacional, o processo de construção das UPHs no Estado do Rio de Janeiro
resultou em 138 unidades. O texto apresenta uma espacialização da pobreza
extrema com base em indicadores em nível de UPH, e os coteja com resultados
em nível municipal.

Pobreza e Desigualdade no Brasil: O Esgotamento dos Efeitos Distributivos do Plano Real. Rio de Janeiro: IPEA, Texto para Discussão no. 721, abril de 2000. , Apr 1, 2000

The persistence of absolute poverty in Brazil is associated with high levels of income inequality... more The persistence of absolute poverty in Brazil is associated with high levels of income inequality. For this article, this association is the departing point for presenting a schematic evolution of poverty in Brazil in the last three decades: a sharp decline in the seventies as income grew at high rates; fluctuations of poverty incidence following the short-term economic trends in the eighties and early nineties; finally the reduction after the 1994 Real Plan, which brought poverty incidence to a level where it has stabilized since 1995. This stability of poverty incidence for the country as a whole encompasses quite different local situations, for instance, improvements in the Center-West and deterioration in metropolises, specially São Paulo. Metropolitan labor market indicators for the last three years show a sharp decline of the number of jobs for the least qualified workers, which has the effect of adversely affecting poverty and inequality.

Resumo

Partindo das evidências de que a pobreza absoluta no Brasil está associada à elevada desigualdade de renda, este trabalho faz uma retrospectiva da sua evolução nas últimas três décadas. Nos anos 70 ocorre forte redução da pobreza devido às taxas elevadas de crescimento da renda; nos anos 80 até 1993, quando a incidência de pobreza acompanha as oscilações econômicas de curto prazo, pouco avanço é realizado; finalmente, ocorre redução após o Plano de Estabilização de 1994, acomodando-se os indicadores desde então neste patamar. A estabilidade recente da incidência de pobreza para o país como um todo encobre trajetórias locais diversas, como melhorias no Centro-Oeste e agravamento nas áreas metropolitanas, São Paulo particularmente. Dados relativos ao mercado de trabalho metropolitano nos últimos três anos revelam um processo acentuado de extinção de postos de trabalho para trabalhadores pouco qualificados, o que tende a afetar de forma adversa a incidência de pobreza e a desigualdade.

Revista Conjuntura Economica, Oct 16, 2014

Revue Tiers Monde , 2011

Cet article présente une analyse de l'impact des allocations sociales sur la pauvreté et les inég... more Cet article présente une analyse de l'impact des allocations sociales sur la pauvreté et les inégalités de revenus au Brésil. Tout d'abord, il décrit les différents types d'allocations au sein de la securité sociale et de l'assistance sociale. Ensuite, en se basant sur des simulations à partir des données de l'enquête national auprès des ménages (PNAD 2007), il estime les impacts des huit combinaisons de transferts sur les indicateurs de pauvreté et d'inégalité de revenu. La conclusion rend compte des contradictions et des imperfections des deux systèmes qui ont besoin d'être réformés pour mieux atteindre leurs buts.

PARA DISCUSSÃO tem o objetivo de divulgar resultados de estudos desenvolvidos direta ou indiretam... more PARA DISCUSSÃO tem o objetivo de divulgar resultados de estudos desenvolvidos direta ou indiretamente pelo IPEA, bem como trabalhos considerados de relevância para disseminação pelo Instituto, para informar profissionais especializados e colher sugestões.

Revista Espanola De Desarrollo Y Cooperacion, 2008

Revista Brasileira De Estudos De Populacao, Jan 9, 2014

Problèmes d'Amérique Latine, 2007

Departing from income-based indicators that show the recent decline of poverty in Brazil, this te... more Departing from income-based indicators that show the recent decline of poverty in Brazil, this text analyses some correlated phenomena, such as the improvement in living conditions, the changes in the forms of engagement in the labor market and the increasing share of cash transfers in family income. The exam of the two cash transfer programs which today overlap each other – constitutional transfers and the Bolsa-Familia program – shows that despite the increasing number of beneficiaries and the growing expenditure there has been no reduction of the relative vulnerability of children among the poor. The conclusion emphasizes the need for attributing priority to children in the scope of anti-poverty policy, using education as the main strategy.

A partir d’indicateurs qui révèlent une chute de la pauvreté au Brésil depuis 2003, ce texte analyse des phénomènes parallèles comme des améliorations dans les conditions de vie, des changements dans les formes d’insertion sur le marché du travail et l’augmentation de la part des allocations sociales dans la formation du revenu familial. L’examen des deux systèmes d’allocations sociales qui aujourd’hui se superposent, celui prévu par la Constitution et le Bourse-Famille, montre que, en dépit de l’élargissement du public et de la dépense, la forte vulnérabilité relative des enfants parmi les pauvres n’a pas été réduite. La conclusion souligne la nécessité d’élire les enfants comme priorité dans le domaine de la politique de lutte contre la pauvreté, en recourant à l’éducation comme stratégie préférentielle.

Revista Brasileira De Economia, 1990

o artigo aborda a questão da pobreza metropolitana nos anos 80 de uma forma mais ampla que a usua... more o artigo aborda a questão da pobreza metropolitana nos anos 80 de uma forma mais ampla que a usual. Para subpopulações qualificadas como pobres a partir do critério da renda, o uso da técnica de componentes principais gera um índice sintético que leva em conta aspectos ligados à qualidade de vida, tais como acesso à infra-estrutura urbana, inserção no mercado de trabalho, educação, etc. Através desse Índice, discute·se a evolução da pobreza na década e ordenam-5e as regiões metropolitanas segundo a qualidade de vida de seus habitantes abaixo da linha de pobreza.

... Sônia Rocha O Sociólogo e as Políticas públicas: Ensaios em Homenagem a Simon Schwartzman / L... more ... Sônia Rocha O Sociólogo e as Políticas públicas: Ensaios em Homenagem a Simon Schwartzman / Luisa Farah Schwartzman, Isabel Farah Schwartzman, Felipe Farah Schwartzman, Michel LentSchwartzman, organizadores. Rio de Janeiro: Editora FGV, 2009. ...

Pesquisa e Planejamento Economico , 2002

Cadernos INESP, 2011

Anais do XVI Congresso Brasileiro de Sociologia, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil , 2009

Revista Economia, 2012

Economia e Sociedade , 2003

Nova Economia, 2019

Nova Economia, 2003

Caderno CRH , 2008

Economica , 2007

Pobreza e Desigualdade no Brasil: O Esgotamento dos Efeitos Distributivos do Plano Real. Rio de Janeiro: IPEA, Texto para Discussão no. 721, abril de 2000. , Apr 1, 2000

Resumo

Revista Conjuntura Economica, Oct 16, 2014

Revue Tiers Monde , 2011

Revista Espanola De Desarrollo Y Cooperacion, 2008

Revista Brasileira De Estudos De Populacao, Jan 9, 2014

Problèmes d'Amérique Latine, 2007

Revista Brasileira De Economia, 1990

Institituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (IPEA) Working Paper , Jul 1, 2000

This paper examines the recent experiences of Belém and Belo Horizonte, two metropolitan nuclei w... more This paper examines the recent experiences of Belém and Belo Horizonte, two metropolitan nuclei where minimum income programs have been implemented. The idea is to verify to which extent the financial conditons in each of these municipalities seem to be compatible with the implementation of the program benefiting a significant share of the total number of the local poor. Alternatives will be considered for defining the target population in terms of income and family characteristics, as well as for establishing the value of the monthly transfer.

The paper initially focuses on Brasilia’s experience as the basis for adopting the same policy in Belém and Belo Horizonte. Next it describes the characteristics of program design and operation in Belém and Belo Horizonte. Despite the fact that the two municipalities present quite different characteristics, which, in their turn, are quite diverse from Brasilia’s, both programs essentially adopted most operational parameters from the Federal District’s program. Data from the National Household Survey are used to evidence the operational limits which the program faces in these two municipalities, given the size of the target population and the financial restrictions. Specific recommendations are presented to improve program’s efficiency in each case.

This text comments on the article (Rocha, O Impacto Distributivo do Imposto de Renda sobre a Desi... more This text comments on the article (Rocha, O Impacto Distributivo do Imposto de Renda sobre a Desigualdade de Renda das Famílias, in Pesquisa e Planejamento Econômico, 32(1), abril de 2002, p. 73-105), which analyses – using detailed microdata simulations for the 1981-1999 period - the reduced impact of the income tax on income inequality in Brazil. Since high levels of income inequality persist in Brazil and income taxation is back on the agenda, the discussion and results presented in the article seem to be useful.

Occasional Papers, Univ. of Oxford, Latin American Center, 2008

After a brief retrospective of the evolution of income transfer programs in Brazil, this text use... more After a brief retrospective of the evolution of income transfer programs in Brazil, this text uses information from the 2004 and 2006 official national household survey (PNAD) in order to analyze the recent evolution of the Bolsa-Familia in what concerns targeting and coverage. Despite the fact that the BF met its goal of assisting 11 million households by the end of 2006, there are still around 3.4 million eligible households that do not receive the transfer. Simulations show that guaranteeing the basic transfer to all eligible households has a stronger impact on poverty indicators that to grant the new benefit - created in 2008 - to youngsters who
live in the already assisted households. (www.brazil.ox.ac.uk)

Este texto tem como objetivo enfocar as transferências de renda realizadas pelo governo federal -... more Este texto tem como objetivo enfocar as transferências de renda realizadas pelo governo federal - tanto previdenciárias como assistencias - no que concerne ao seu potencial de reduzir e amenizar os problemas associados à pobreza entendida como insuficiência de renda. As seçoes iniciais tratam das características básicas da evolução e da estrutura dos sistemas de transferências assistenciais e previdenciárias no país. A seção 4 apresenta resultados de exercícios de simulação, que estimam os impactos das transferências sobre pobreza.Trata-se especificamente de comparar os indicadores de pobreza considerando, por um lado, a renda total das famílias, incluindo, portanto, as transferências assistenciais e previdenciárias, e por outro lado, a renda das famílias da qual as transferências foram excluídas. A quinta seção trata dos impactos das transferências sobre a desigualdade de renda. Finalmente a sexta e última seção sistematiza os principais pontos discutidos e esboça algumas implicações para o desenho da política social no Brasil.

Ipea Texto Para Discussao, Dec 1, 1997

This article discusses poverty in Rio de Janeiro per se and within the national context, consider... more This article discusses poverty in Rio de Janeiro per se and within the national context, considering both the evolutionary trend since 1970 and its present day characteristics. Three results that come out from the analysis are worth mentioning. The first one shows that the decline of Rio de Janeiro’s economic status corresponded to an increase in its share in the national poverty: at the end of the period (1995), poverty incidence in Rio de Janeiro was about the same of that in the country, that is, 20 percent of the population is poor. It is important to mention that, because of the income increases after 1994, this incidence of poverty is lower than that one observed in 1981 (25%), that is, considering the 1981-1995 period there was no increase of poverty incidence in Rio de Janeiro per se. The second result concerns the fact that during the eighties Rio de Janeiro had presented the most adverse results in terms of poverty evolution in Brazil, which probably relates to local characteristics of its productive structure and quality of jobs offered: manufacturing has a relatively small share in the local GDP — 30% in 1994 — and labor income is particularly low (R$ 447 monthly in September 1995, which corresponds to only 2/3 of that in the São Paulo metropolis). The third result concerns the reduction of poverty incidence in the last three years, when Rio de Janeiro particularly benefited from price stabilization because of relative higher price increases in the service sector, which represented a substantial gain for those at the basis of the income distribution. The present convergence of price increases indicates that this process of income gains to the poorest has come to an end and that, from now on, employment and income increases, specially for non-qualified workers that form the poor contingent, will depend again on investment and on its potential for job creation and income distribution.

ILO, SES Papers , 2001

This paper examines the recent experiences of Belem and Belo Horizonte, two Brazilian metropolit... more This paper examines the recent experiences of Belem and Belo Horizonte, two
Brazilian metropolitan nuclei where minimum income programs have been implemented. The idea is to verify to which extent the financial conditions in each of these municipalities seem to be compatible with the implementation of the program
benefiting a significant share of the total number of the local poor. Alternatives
will be considered for defining the target population in terms of income and
family characteristics, as well as for establishing the value of the monthly transfer.
The paper initially focuses on Brasilia’s experience as the basis for adopting the
same policy in Belem and Belo Horizonte. Next it describes the characteristics of
program design and operation in Belem and Belo Horizonte. Despite the fact that
the two municipalities present quite different characteristics, which, in their turn,
are quite diverse from Brasilia’s, both programs essentially adopted most
operational parameters from the Federal District’s program. Data from the
National Household Survey are used to evidence the operational limits which the
program faces in these two municipalities, given the size of the target population
and the financial restrictions. Specific recommendations are presented to improve
program’s efficiency in each case.

Paper presented at the 2006 ANPEC Congress. , 2006

The aim of this text is to present the advantages of adopting an alternative spatial aggregation ... more The aim of this text is to present the advantages of adopting an alternative spatial aggregation for the municipal grid and for others currently available for diagnostic and social policy ends. Though it is usual in Brazil to generate indicators on a municipal level, this level of spatial disaggregation presents important disadvantages for analytical purposes. One of them is the diversity in the size of municipal populations, which in 2000, varied from 795 inhabitants in Borá (SP) to 10.3 million in São Paulo, the state capital. To deal with the matter of inequality in municipal population size and other significant differences from the point of view of generating statistically relevant indicators, this text presents a new spatial grid with national coverage, formed by what we shall call Homogenous Population Units – UPHs. These units were formed in response to various desirable planning requirements, which involve not only the similarity of population size, homogeneity criteria, but also statistical robustness relative to the social indicators to be obtained.

13th Congress of the International Federation for Latin American Studies (FIEALC), 2007

Social Assistance Income Transfers in Brazil - Evolution and Challenges This text synthetizes ... more Social Assistance Income Transfers in Brazil - Evolution and Challenges

This text synthetizes the main facts about evolution, coverage, targeting and costs of cash transfer programs in Brazil within the public social assistance network. It covers the traditional constitutional program for the elderly, created in the 1970’s, but also the more recent and fast growing benefit to low-income families, which reached 11 million families monthly in 2006.

IPEA, Texto para Discussão , Aug 1, 2002

Ao longo dos mais de 30 anos de existência da PNAD, a investigação dos quesitos de rendimento têm... more Ao longo dos mais de 30 anos de existência da PNAD, a investigação dos quesitos de rendimento têm passado por transformações com o objetivo de captar de forma progressivamente mais abrangente e fidedigna o valor do rendimento das pessoas, sejam eles oriundos do trabalho ou de outras origens. O objetivo deste texto será o de, com base na forma de investigação atualmente adotada, que permaneceu praticamente imutável desde da reformulação da pesquisa em 1992, avaliar as questões conceituais e metodológicas envolvidas, e, eventualmente, sugerir alterações e aperfeiçoamentos a serem introduzidos por ocasião da reformulação da PNAD a vigorar a partir de 2002.

O texto pretende fazer uma breve síntese da evolução no que concerne à investigação do rendimento na PNAD. Em consonância com sua importância na composição da renda total, trata-se de dar destaque à captação da renda do trabalho e às soluções adotadas para melhor levar em conta os rendimentos associados a diferentes formas de inserção no mercado de trabalho no que concerne à situação na ocupação, à variabilidade do rendimento ao longo do ano (inclusive sazonalidade) e às formas de remuneração. No que se refere aos rendimentos não oriundos do trabalho, cabe verificar as possibilidades de melhorar a captação de certos tipos de rendimento que são fortemente subdeclarados, como rendimentos de capital. Com base em evidências quanto ao crescimento de categorias específicas de rendimento, será examinada a conveniência de proceder a um maior detalhamento dos rendimentos por tipo investigados explicitamente.

Serão enfocadas a seguir questões metodológicas relativas ao quesito de rendimento. Trata-se, por exemplo, do conceito de rendimento bruto, e do recurso a informações complementares oriundas da pesquisa para a construção de agregados relevantes de rendimento líquido. Trata-se, ainda, de examinar as bases de informação tendo em vista a imputação de rendimentos em bases individuais ou familiares, na linha do que se realiza agregadamente no âmbito das contas nacionais.

Como conclusão serão apresentadas de forma sistemática as sugestões de alteração tanto na investigação do rendimento, como na forma da divulgação dos resultados da pesquisa, tenham eles sido obtidos diretamente dos quesitos investigados ou derivados de alguma elaboração, como já se faz atualmente em relação aos índices de Gini.

Instituto de Pesquisa Aplicada (IPEA) , Working Paper 278, 1992

This text focuses on income-poverty along the eighties – the so-called lost decade - in nine Braz... more This text focuses on income-poverty along the eighties – the so-called lost decade - in nine Brazilian metropolitan areas, which concentrated a third of the country’s population, also being the country’s most dynamic economic poles. Although the sensitivity of poverty rates to short-term cycles was high, the long-term effect of economic ups and downs when the years 1981 and 1990 are considered was practically neutral in terms of income poverty rate. However, these effects were clearly adverse regarding how people engaged in the labor market. Using income data from the household survey and locally-specific poverty lines derived from the National Household Budget Survey (ENDEF), we compare labor market indicators for poor and non-poor subpopulations. These indicators show a clear deterioration along the decade, as well as an indirect, though also adverse impact on living conditions. In addition, they indicate how families, both poor and non-poor, adapted their income earning strategies under changing economic and demographic conditions.

Linhas de Pobreza para a Regiões Metropolitanas , 1988

In the eighties when concerns about poverty gained renewed interest in academia, poverty lines de... more In the eighties when concerns about poverty gained renewed interest in academia, poverty lines derived by Fava (1984) from the 1974-1975 Household Budget Survey (ENDEF) had their values updated for the years 1981-1986 and applied in tandem with income from the annual National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) (Rocha 1988). From then on, yearly, a new set of updated lines, as well the corresponding income-based poverty indicators, poverty profiles, and a wide variety of analyses were produced at the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA) by Rocha. Later, when the 1991 Census became available, these lines were also instrumental for making retrospective poverty comparisons based on 1970, 1980 and 1991 Census data.

This is the Executive Summary of "Linhas de Pobreza para as Regiões Metropolitanas na Primeira Metade da Década de 80", presented at the 1988 ANPEC meeting in Belo Horizonte and published in the Proceedings (Anais, v. IV), December 1988).

Age inequality is one of the characteristics of poverty and extreme poverty in Brazil: the propor... more Age inequality is one of the characteristics of poverty and extreme poverty in Brazil: the proportion of poor is much higher among children, declining steadily as age increases. This note, based on microdata from the 2015 national household survey (PNAD/IBGE, 2016), assesses the evolution that took place from 2004 to 2014/15, a period marked by a sustained decline of the proportion of poor in Brazil. Although poverty rates declined for all age brackets, age inequality in poverty increased, especially because of the elderly: since they already presented the lowest poverty/extreme poverty rates in 2004, the fact that they also had the most favorable evolution from then on reinforced age inequality in poverty. As a result children not only remain the age group in the worst position as far as income poverty is concerned, but their relative position has deteriorated along the period.

Exiting Belindia? Lessons from the recent decline in Income Inequality in Brazil , 2012

After decades of persistent disparities, income equality in Brazil has fallen steadily over the l... more After decades of persistent disparities, income equality in Brazil has fallen steadily over the last fifteen years. This document examines the recent trend in income inequality in Brazil, its key policy drivers and some of the challenges ahead. It aims at capturing some of the lessons behind Brazil’s experience, considering its long term evolution.

O Brasil Dividido (Publit, Rio de Janeiro), 2008

This book presents a network of spatial units – the so-called UPHs - conceived for Brazil, where ... more This book presents a network of spatial units – the so-called UPHs - conceived for Brazil, where the units are homogeneous according to various socioeconomic criteria, as well as similar in demographic size, that is, having around 110,000 inhabitants each. Statistically, the network is compatible with the official State and Municipal boundaries used in Brazil.

For those who want to explore the spatial differences within the country, the proposed network of 1,574 territorial units allows for an efficient national ranking of areas according to any socioeconomic indicator which may be derived from the Brazilian official database.
For those focused on local living conditions, using the UPH network may highlight the differences within larger municipalities.

The book presents the statistical criteria and procedures for deriving the spatial units and the resulting network. It also contains illustrative cases analysing poverty incidence and child mortality. These chapters aim to exemplify how to use the tool to detect spatial differences within Brazil and to orient policy design and operation.

Allocations Sociales et Pauvreté au Brésil. Le bon Combat? , 2014

Depuis quelques années, le Brésil occupe une place de plus en plus importante sur la scène inter... more Depuis quelques années, le Brésil occupe une place de plus en
plus importante sur la scène internationale en conséquence
de grands changements socio-économiques – et plus
particulièrement d’une réduction significative de la pauvreté
et de l’inégalité des revenus. Cet ouvrage vise à présenter
au public francophone, y compris au lecteur profane en
matière de politique sociale brésilienne, la mise en place et
l’évolution des différents programmes d’allocations sociales,
dont le plus connu est la Bourse-Famille. L’analyse porte sur
les caractéristiques de base de ces programmes, leurs formats,
les changements conceptuels intervenus au cours du temps,
le ciblage des bénéficiaires, les effets des allocations sur la
composition du revenu des ménages ainsi que sur le déclin de
la pauvreté et de l’inégalité. Enfin, l’accent est mis sur les défis
à relever pour perfectionner cette politique des allocations
afin de mieux protéger les enfants pauvres, la population la
plus vulnérable actuellement.

Pobreza no Brasil: Afinal, de que se trata? , 2003

Quase um Prefácio Embora desde o início da década da noventa a persistência da pobreza tenha ... more Quase um Prefácio

Embora desde o início da década da noventa a persistência da pobreza tenha sido uma das preocupações centrais no país, a temática ganha clara primazia depois da estabilização monetária de 1994. Resolvido o problema básico da inflação, houve consenso nacional de que o objetivo prioritário da sociedade brasileira era reduzir a desigualdade entre pessoas, da qual a persistência da pobreza absoluta é um corolário. Existiam, porém, sérias dificuldades de transitar entre, por um lado, o objetivo ético e humanista consensual, e, por outro lado, as iniciativas concretas de política pública necessárias para atingi-lo.

O objetivo deste livro é reunir um conjunto de informações visando familiarizar o leitor com as noções relevantes para o entendimento da pobreza e de questões afins, tais como aquelas ligadas à distribuição do rendimento, ao funcionamento do mercado de trabalho e à concepção de políticas sociais. Tendo em vista um público-alvo amplo, do estudante universitário em diversas áreas das Ciências Sociais e Humanas ao formulador de políticas públicas nas três esferas de governo, do cidadão curioso a aqueles que operam programas sociais no dia-a-dia, trata-se de reunir um conjunto de informações que permitam compreender diferentes facetas do tema em questão. Tendo como referência o caso brasileiro, serão discutidas as bases conceituais e estatísticas adotadas quando se trata de medir e caracterizar a pobreza no Brasil.

O livro pretendeu apresentar de forma sistemática o muito que se sabe sobre o tema de pobreza no Brasil, levando em conta as especificidades nacionais, como a relação imbricada entre pobreza e desigualdade. O ponto de partida é a discussão conceitual sobre pobreza, que se estreita para focalizar a experiência brasileira. A abordagem da pobreza do ponto de vista da renda, que se privilegia no Brasil, é detalhada partindo dos critérios utilizados para definir o valor das linhas de pobreza. Ao discutir conceitos, é possível esclarecer a origem e a natureza da controvérsia quanto aos números associados à incidência de pobreza absoluta no Brasil. A questão da mensuração é crucial, pois permite distinguir e dimensionar clientelas potenciais, assim como vincular conceitos à formulação de programas sociais.

Os indicadores comparáveis para o período 1970-2001 fornecem um panorama da evolução da pobreza no longo prazo e seus principais determinantes. A trajetória dos anos 90, inclusive no que concerne aos diferentes perfis dos pobres brasileiros, coloca a questão da pobreza em bases concretas, o que é essencial para pensar as medidas adequadas de política pública.

A guisa de conclusão, o último capítulo retoma as questões abordadas ao longo do livro, sintetizando-as em dez pontos chave que correspondem a consensos já bem estabelecidos sobre a feição da pobreza no Brasil.

Focused on poverty in Brazil since 1990, this book is a collection of fifteen articles that goes ... more Focused on poverty in Brazil since 1990, this book is a collection of fifteen articles that goes all the way from concepts to policies, covering different aspects of analysis in the long term. Conceptually, it adopts the income approach, since income is a good proxy of wellbeing in an urbanized medium-income country such as Brazil. Although the income-poverty was globally dominant, especially in country-wide studies, the establishment and use of locally-specific poverty lines in Brazil were exceptional, when most countries used ad hoc values, and this for the simple reason that without the needed data available they could not do otherwise. Official Annual Households Surveys provided the micro-data to update the series of indicators and produce analyses reflecting macroeconomic changes, as well as those regarding social concerns and policies in the twenty-five-year period.

Besides focusing on poverty lines and income poverty measures and analyses, many of the texts illustrate how microdata from the household survey were the basis for designing anti-poverty mechanisms. For example, when the pioneer cash-transfer Bolsa-Escola program was implemented in Brasilia, household microdata was then used to make different estimates of the target population, as well as to redefine operational parameters so as to guarantee a better fit to local conditions (text 11). This opened a new path for planning social policies, that is, using household microdata to analyze different options and estimating the corresponding impacts before making the final choice.

The fifteen texts can be roughly classified in four groups.

A first group is formed by three texts centered on conceptual and methodological questions, such as the description of procedures for establishing poverty lines using data on consumption patterns from the regionalized national survey (text 6).

The texts in the second group evolve around poverty indicators and analyses, especially the impacts of economic events on poverty, such as the sharp reduction of poverty rates after the 1994 monetary stabilization (Text 8) or the stagnation of rates during the period of sluggish growth in the late nineties and early two-thousands (Text 9).

A third group is formed by texts related to program and policy evaluation, such as the one on child labor and the impacts of the program for eradication of child labor (text 10) and the text discussing the link between poverty and sustainability (Text 5).

The last two texts are centered on the relationship between poverty and inequality, but from two quite different points of view: the first, addresses the causal relationship between low educational level and low qualification of the labor force; the second, is centered on poverty and on how unequal its distribution is when certain characteristics are considered, such as age.

Desigaldade de Renda no Brasil: Tendência Recente e Perspectivas , 2010

O Brasil é bem conhecido pela desigualdade de renda. Desde que se iniciou o cálculo da desigualda... more O Brasil é bem conhecido pela desigualdade de renda. Desde que se iniciou o cálculo da desigualdade de rendimentos em 1960, o coeficiente de Gini já era alto – 0,504 –, e continuou a se elevar gradualmente para atingir o pico de 0,607 em 1990. Assim, tanto durante o período de crescimento econômico vigoroso, como naquele de estag-inflação, a questão crítica da desigualdade de renda não só não foi enfrentada, como se agravou. Em 1997 se inicia um período de queda das “desigualdades”, durante o qual se acelera o ritmo de redução das desigualdades não-monetárias e se inicia o processo sustentado de declínio da desigualdade de renda.

A queda consistente da desigualdade de renda após 1997 se deve a um conjunto excepcionalmente favorável de fatores: efeitos demográficos ligados à queda da fecundidade e à mudança na estrutura das famílias repercutiram sobre a razão de dependência e sobre a taxa de participação no mercado de trabalho dos adultos; redução dos efeitos de diferenciação de rendimentos do trabalho associados às segmentações entre regiões, entre áreas urbanas e rurais, e entre cidades de diferentes portes populacionais; mudanças no nível de escolaridade e na desigualdade educacional; aumento da cobertura e do valor das transferências previdenciárias e assistenciais; política de valorização do salário mínimo, que afetou tanto o mercado de trabalho, como as transferências de renda.

Com o objetivo de identificar as causas da queda recente da desigualdade de renda no Brasil do ponto de vista da Renda Domiciliar per capita, um procedimento possível consiste em determinar a contribuição de cada tipo de renda para a determinação do coeficiente de Gini observado, considerando o coeficiente de concentração e a participação relativa de cada renda específica na renda total.

Este texto está organizado da seguinte maneira. A Seção 1 faz um pano de fundo conceitual e empírico para o que será tratado nas seções seguintes. A Seção 2 trata das transferências previdenciárias e assistenciais, explicando como as mudanças institucionais e a escolha política relativa à valorização do salário mínimo levaram a um aumento da cobertura e do valor transferido, com impactos distributivos positivos. Trata também das inter-relações e incongruências entre a previdência social e a assistência social, assim como as que existem no interior de cada um dos sistemas, o que tem implicações distributivas relevantes. A Seção 3 trata do comportamento da renda do trabalho no período 1995-2009, distinguindo dois sub-períodos com características macroeconômicas distintas, mas que tiveram em comum o processo sustentado de melhoria distributiva. A Seção 4 examina a questão da melhoria distributiva da renda do trabalho enfocando o seu principal determinante, o nível de escolaridade. Além de destacar as tendências favoráveis de aumento da escolaridade e de declínio da desigualdade educacional, que resultam em reduções dos diferenciais de rendimentos do trabalho por nível de escolaridade, esta seção examina duas situações particulares. Por um lado, a queda dos retornos à educação superior, e por outro lado, o aumento de rendimento dos trabalhadores de mais baixa escolaridade. Finalmente a Seção 5 sumariza as conclusões e repertoria questões relativas ao papel possível a ser desempenhado pela política pública para a queda da desigualdade no Brasil.

Microeconomia e Sociedade no Brasil , 2001

This text, included in a book on the use of microdata for analyzing socio economic issues, is foc... more This text, included in a book on the use of microdata for analyzing socio economic issues, is focused on poverty, particularly on income-poverty. This approach, using data from household surveys, has been privileged in recent years wherever these surveys are available, allowing a more precise and objective understanding of poverty and providing better tools for policy actions. This text reviews the choices involved in establishing poverty lines internationally as well as in Brazil. Considering the availability of microdata from household surveys in Brazil, it peers into the possible conceptual choices, as well as into the consensuses concerning the procedures for establishing poverty and extreme-poverty lines and for deriving the usual income-based poverty indicators.

Politicas Sociales Nuevos Desafios , 2010

This paper explores how the perception of social issues and, particularly, how social policy has ... more This paper explores how the perception of social issues and, particularly, how social policy has evolved in Latin American since the nineties. Having as background the growing concern over poverty, the paper firstly considers the social issues that remain controversial. Then, it discusses the consensuses that have emerged concerning social policy, which are often rather “philosophical”, and thus do not necessarily reflect social
policy design and implementation. The fourth part refers to the progress achieved in social policy: besides a new perception of poverty, there is the growing awareness that social policy is a public policy, which means, in both cases, breaking away from the philanthropic tradition.

Brasil-Portugal: entre o passado e o futuro - o diálogo dos 500 anos. , 2001

Forum Nacional, João Paulo do Reis Velloso (coord.)q, 2011

This text presents and discusses the favorable factors that have operated simultaneously during t... more This text presents and discusses the favorable factors that have operated simultaneously during the 2004-2010 period in Brazil: sustained income growth, reduction of poverty and income inequality, improvement in living conditons, especially among the poor.

Transformando Crise em Oportunidade (Forum Nacional /INAE), 2013

Este texto tem como objetivo examinar numa perspectiva histórica de longo prazo a evolução da pob... more Este texto tem como objetivo examinar numa perspectiva histórica de longo prazo a evolução da pobreza no Brasil, utilizando o enfoque da renda. Tendo por base a renda familiar per capita e linhas de pobreza absoluta regionalizadas, o tempo que se estende de 1970 a 2011 foi dividido em quatro períodos, delimitados em função de mudanças no comportamento e no nível da proporção de pobres. Para cada período destacam-se os fatores determinantes da evolução da pobres no próprio período , assim como mudanças estruturais capazes de afetar sua evolução nos períodos seguintes.

This text gives a long term perspective of income poverty in Brazil. Based on household per capita income and locally- specific poverty lines, the 1970-2011 period was divided in four sub-periods, delimited according to changes and level of the proportion of poor. For each period, we highlight the main determinants of the evolution of poverty incidence, as well as the structural changes having the potential to affect poverty in the subsequent periods.

Visões do Desenvolviment Brasileiro , 2014

A divulgação dos dados conjunturais relativos ao mercado de trabalho, realizada mensalmente pelo ... more A divulgação dos dados conjunturais relativos ao mercado de trabalho, realizada mensalmente pelo IBGE, sempre merece destaque da imprensa e suscita comentários de especialistas. No entanto, desde 2011, quando ficou evidente a perda de dinamismo do nível de atividade produtiva e as taxas de crescimento do PIB declinaram para um patamar mais baixo, a informação relativa à taxa de desocupação tem sido acompanhada com especial interesse. Isto porque, além de ter seu significado clara e imediatamente entendido pelo público, tem a vantagem de sintetizar num único indicador informações sobre o nível de atividade e sobre seus impactos sociais, via emprego e renda. Tem causado estranheza que, no contexto de queda de dinamismo produtivo e de múltiplas dificuldades de caráter macroeconômico, a taxa de desocupação mantenha a tendência declinante, que se observa há mais de uma década.
Neste sentido, o comportamento da taxa de desocupação parece estar em contracorrente do que seria esperado. O objetivo deste paper é analisar o que está por detrás da evolução observada e o que se pode esperar para o futuro próximo tendo em vista os resultados estatísticos mais recentes.

O Brasil Dividido; Espacialização Alternativa e Pobreza (PUBLIT), 2008

Tendo como premissa o fato de que questões de sobrevivência física têm prioridade absoluta quando... more Tendo como premissa o fato de que questões de sobrevivência física têm prioridade absoluta quando se consideram as múltiplas carências que caracterizam a pobreza, são dois os objetivos deste capítulo. O primeiro é enfatizar a importância do uso de um indicador físico, no caso, a mortalidade infantil, como variável estratégica para identificar áreas críticas para intervenção dos governos e da sociedade no âmbito mais geral das políticas anti-pobreza. O segundo objetivo consiste em fornecer um panorama nacional da incidência e gravidade relativa do fenômeno da pobreza crítica a partir do uso de um indicador deste tipo, a razão de mortalidade, utilizando a malha de unidades especiais chamadas UPHs Unidades de População Homogênea). Trata-se de uma malha de unidades espaciais cobrindo todo o Brasil, compatível com as divisões territoriais de Estados e Municípios. Foram definidas a partir de indicadores sociais para garantir sua relativa homogeneidade interna, e tem tamanho semelhante, em torno de 110.000 habitantes.

O Brasil Dividido: Espacialização Alternativa e Pobreza (Editora Publit) , 2008

This chapter presents the results of poverty incidence in the State of Pernambuco, in the Brazil... more This chapter presents the results of poverty incidence in the State of Pernambuco, in the Brazilian Northeast. The results are obtained using spatial units defined according to sociaoeconomic criteria and with demographic size around 110.000 inhabitants. Comparing these results with the usual ones, which are based on the official political boundaries, highlights aspects useful for understanding reality and designing public policies.

O Brasil Dividido : Espacialização Alternativa e Pobreza , 2008

Desde o início da década de noventa, a pobreza tornou-se um dos temas centrais de preocupação da ... more Desde o início da década de noventa, a pobreza tornou-se um dos temas centrais de preocupação da sociedade brasileira, o que permitiu tanto a formação de consensos conceituais, como a modernização paulatina das políticas públicas voltadas para o atendimento dos mais pobres. Pela justificado interesse do tema, optou-se por centrar as análises ilustrativas do uso das UPHs em torno de indicadores de pobreza. O objetivo é evidenciar as vantagens de utilizar a malha de UPHs, em particular em substituição à malha municipal, para orientar diagnósticos e desenhos de ações-sejam de políticas públicas, sejam por iniciativa de outros segmentos-, no sentido de melhorar as condições de vida e de integração social dos mais pobres.

XXIII Forum Nacional , 2011

At the time the Brazilian federal government decided to create oficial values to be used as pover... more At the time the Brazilian federal government decided to create oficial values to be used as poverty and extreme poverty lines, it seems useful to discuss the shortcomings of adopting only these two national values to identify the poor and the extreme poor and to design policies tageted at them. These values ignore the significant differences in the cost the living for the poor and the extremely poor in different regions and their subareas (metropolitan, urban and rural).

Dicionário Temático. Desenvolvimento e Questão Social., 2020

Este é um texto curto, encomendado para compor uma enciclopédia de Ciencias Sociais e versando so... more Este é um texto curto, encomendado para compor uma enciclopédia de Ciencias Sociais e versando sobre as medidas de pobreza. O texto distingue as duas abordagens básicas. A primeira que adota um critério único para identificar a subpopulação pobre, utilizando expectativa de vida ou renda, por exemplo. A segundo, que associa pobreza a um conjunto de indicadores. É repertoriada a evolução nos procedimentos de mensuração, desde Booth e Rowntree no início do século 20, até as propostas mais recentes de uso de indicadores sintéticos, discutindo as implicações em termos de necessidades de dados estatísticos.

This article presents income-based poverty and extreme poverty indicators for 2015, when the econ... more This article presents income-based poverty and extreme poverty indicators for 2015, when the economic crisis led to the rise of poverty affecting all areas and regions, reversing the sustained decline since 2004. As these results are the last ones from the old household survey series, the article also presents some aspects of the long term trend: the convergence of poverty indicators when metropolitan, urban and rural areas are considered, and the resilience of the regional dichotomy in poverty, the North/Northeast remaining much poorer than the Center South. The final section sums up the main evidences discussed in the article and focus on the present situation and on the future perspectives in light of recent data on income and growth.

Poverty in Brazil. Concepts, Measures, Policies , 2021

The huge and quite resilient level of income inequality in Brazil had been declining steadily sin... more The huge and quite resilient level of income inequality in Brazil had been
declining steadily since 1997. This text analyses the increase in years of
schooling, the changes that occurred in terms of labor gains according to
years of schooling and how this affected income inequality before the 2014 crisis struck. Access to education had much improved, but the quality of education had remained unsatisfactory. This quality of education problem was partly compensated for by a sustained policy of increasing the real value of the minimum wage. As a result, the period from 1997 to 2013 was very favorable to those at the lower income strata, steadily increasing their labor and social assistance incomes, thus improving the income distribution accordingly. When, because of several macroeconomic woes that had been accumulating since the 2007 global crisis, a fiscal crisis of our own hit in 2014, the impact on poverty and inequality soon appeared. Now the country faces the challenge of trying to regain the economic growth track and recover the social progress lost, at a time when the economy is plagued by deficient productive infrastructure, a shameful political establishment, a lowly qualified workforce, and last, but not least, the crippling effects of the coronavirus.

Unpublished paper presented at the XXVII IUSSP International Population
Conference, Busan, Korea, 2013.

Poverty in Brazil: Concepts, Measures, Policies, 2021

This text discusses how the Bolsa-Familia (BF) cash transfer program has fared while expanding i... more This text discusses how the Bolsa-Familia (BF) cash transfer program has
fared while expanding its coverage to almost 13 million households in 2010.
It uses empirical evidence from the National Household Sample Survey to
derive poverty indicators with and without the transfers. It also examines
how effective targeting and the progress in improving it has been, and
describes and evaluates the changes in the program’s design and parameters
while it surpassed its initial 11 million household coverage goal.
Since the BF coexists with another means-tested cash-transfer program, the
Beneficio de Prestacao Continuada (BPC), an older, more costly and
constitutionally regulated program, their roles and contributions are analyzed
and compared within the broader context of Brazilian social assistance and
social insurance mechanisms. Merging the two cash-transfer programs was
an obvious recommendation as BF seemed well consolidated by 2006. Since
then, this merging process has often been mentioned, but has not progressed,
and, whenever the theme comes to light, it faces endless controversies.
Although both types of transfers have been contributing – albeit in different
ways and degrees - to the reduction of poverty and income inequality in
Brazil, there are obvious advantages in integrating the two programs, even
safeguarding the privileged protection the elderly and handicapped have
under the BPC.

Also published in Économie Appliquée, tome LXVI, 2013, no.1, p.125-
154

Poverty in Brazil. Concepts, Measures, Policies i, 2021

In view of how programs emulating the Federal District Bolsa-Escola were being created in a large... more In view of how programs emulating the Federal District Bolsa-Escola were
being created in a large number of municipalities across the country without considering the operational and financial challenges ahead, this paper certainly had a pedagogical approach. It argues that a previous analysis is required in each case and illustrates empirically this step-by-step procedure based on both the characteristics of poverty and on the financial conditions in each political unit. The results show that, even in the metropolitan nuclei, such a program is too costly in most cases, especially considering the wellknown deficiencies of basic social services.
As a matter of fact, most of these local programs legally created in the midnineties had not even been implemented when the practical difficulties
became clear. However, given the attractiveness of the targeted cash-transfer as a public policy, the Federal government created its own Bolsa-Escola in 1997. It became the first of a series of cash transfer programs that were redesigned and consolidated to became today’s Bolsa-Familia.

This text was extracted from an unpublished report prepared for the World
Bank in 1999.

Poverty in Brazil. Concepts, Measures, Policies , 2021

Although cash-transfers targeting the poor have existed in Brazil since the seventies, a new gene... more Although cash-transfers targeting the poor have existed in Brazil since the
seventies, a new generation of programs were profusely created at the local level in the nineties. Two similar programs were the first to be implemented almost simultaneously in 1995 and quickly served as a model for other local initiatives: one in the Municipality of Campinas (SP) and the other in Brasilia, the Federal District. These programs made conditioned-cash transfers to low-income families with children, emphasizing an integrated social assistance approach. This text analyses the Brasilia program, publicized at the time as an educational program, not as a cash transfer mechanism. Since the Federal District constitutes a sample area in the national household survey, we present here simulations concerning the program’s potential clientele at its beginning. We also make an appraisal of the educational results available after three years of the program’s operation.

(This text was extracted from an unpublished report for the World Bank:
Minimum Income Programs in Brazil. How do they Apply to Metropolitan
Nuclei?, March 1999).

Poverty in Brazil. Concepts, Measures, Policies , 2021

In the mid-nineties there was a vehement public outcry when the Ministry of Labor uncovered the d... more In the mid-nineties there was a vehement public outcry when the Ministry of
Labor uncovered the dangerous and strenuous conditions of child labor that
were taking place in some remote and isolated areas in Mato Grosso do Sul.
A federal program was then created that combined social assistance
protection, an educational component including school transportation, and
full-time schooling, as well a cash transfer to each child corresponding to
half a minimum wage. The following text is constituted by extracts from a
report for the World Bank. The report produced a diagnosis of child labor in
Brazil at the state level, presenting the number of children involved and
distinguishing the conditions under which child labor took place in relation
to three aspects: school attendance, type of activity, and number of hours of
worked. It indicated the areas for priority intervention, the estimated number
of beneficiaries, and the costs involved. The report contains a second part,
not referred to here, based on field work in Pernambuco’s sugarcane area,
which describes the program’s operation there, and, considering the specific
local conditions, points out shortcomings and recommends changes for
improvement.
Although the program included a cash transfer component, it was not a
means-test program such as the others that were created in the nineties. It
remained apart well into the following decade. The program had an essential
role in protecting children and accelerating the decreasing trend of child
labor in Brazil.
(Extracts from the unpublished report for the World Bank, July 1999)

Poverty in Brazil - Concepts, Measures, Policies , 2021

This text presents the very first empirical evidence of the sharp decline in poverty rates in Br... more This text presents the very first empirical evidence of the sharp decline in
poverty rates in Brazil after the successful 1994 monetary stabilization plan,
the Real Plan. Since data from the National Household Sample Survey
(PNAD) - the source of income data normally used to derive poverty
estimates - had been interrupted at the time, the solution devised was to resort
to the monthly labor income in metropolitan areas, obtained from the
Monthly Labor Survey as a proxy. The use of the labor income to derive the
usual income poverty indicators showed results in the direction and intensity
that were later confirmed, when countrywide total income data from PNAD
became available.
(The following text is the executive summary of Renda e Pobreza - Os
Impactos do Plano Real, paper presented at the commemorative event for
the 60th anniversary of Brazilian Statistical Institute, IBGE, during the
National Statistical Conference (CONFEST), Rio de Janeiro, May 1996.
Also published as Working Paper, n. 439 IPEA/DIPES, Rio de Janeiro, 1996
and in the Revista Brasileira de Estudos Populacionais, v. 13, n.2,
July/December 1996, p. 117-133).

Poverty in Brazil. Concepts, Measures, Policies , 2021

This chapter describes the derivation of poverty and extreme poverty lines using the then recentl... more This chapter describes the derivation of poverty and extreme poverty lines
using the then recently released data from the National Budget Survey 1987-
8. This was the first step in the scope of a larger project aimed at generating
systematic, coherent and empirically-based information on poverty in Brazil.
Thus, once the poverty and extreme poverty lines were obtained for the baseyear, they were to be used in tandem with family income data from the
Annual Household Survey (PNAD), to obtain for each year, the basic
income-poverty indicators, as well as a educational, labor market, living
conditions, family characteristics indicators in order to characterize the poor,
compare them to the non-poor, and provide the basis for statistical analysis
and policy recommendations. Cross-sectional results for each sampling area
in PNAD, as well as their spatial aggregations will progressively compose a
time series of coherent and comparable poverty indicators for Brazil.
Results generated each year soon after household survey microdata were
available - initially released by the Instituto de Pesquisa Economica Aplicada
(IPEA) -, came to form a long series of data covering the period from 1987
to 2015, when the National Household Survey as discontinued.
(This text was extracted from a 1993 report for the World Bank. However
there is a published article in Portuguese with a similar content: Do Consumo
Observado à Linha de pobreza, in Pesquisa e Planejamento Econômico,
27(2): 313-352, August 1997).

Transiton to Global Sustainability - The Contribution of Brazilian Science , 2000

In the nineties, sustainability became an international concern affecting decision-making in a br... more In the nineties, sustainability became an international concern affecting decision-making in a broad array of areas. This text is narrowly focused on the relationship between poverty and sustainable development, considering three aspects associated to the issue which are relevant in the case of Brazil. The first concerns the simultaneous aims of reducing poverty and promoting growth. The second refers to the process of deforestation of the Amazon region, the determinants of which are far away from the growing incidence of poverty in the region. The third issue is how the growing share of the Brazilian poor who live in urban and metropolitan areas do affect the environment. They are the most adversely affected by the unruly and chaotic process of urbanization that has been plaguing Brazil for so long.

These indicators were obtained using 24 locally specific poverty lines based on observed consumpt... more These indicators were obtained using 24 locally specific poverty lines based on observed consumption among low income households in tandem with microdata on household per capita income from the National Household Survey. The indicators are presented for each year in the most detailed sample level, that is, rural, urban and metropolitan areas for each one of the 27 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. Aggregated results for regions, areas and the national total are presented in the tables as well. For more details, see the Technical Note in the file.

These indicators were obtained using 24 locally specific poverty lines based on observed consumpt... more These indicators were obtained using 24 locally specific poverty lines based on observed consumption by low income households in tandem with microdata on household per capita income from the National Household Survey. The indicators are presented for each year in the most detailed sample level, that is rural, urban and metropolitan areas for each one of the 27 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. Aggregated results for regions, areas and the national total are presented in the tables as well. For more details, see the Technical Note in the file.

These are income-based extreme poverty indicators calculated from the annual National Household S... more These are income-based extreme poverty indicators calculated from the annual National Household Survey (IBGE) for the years 2011 to 2015. The results are presented for the most detailed sample level, that is, rural, urban and metropolitan areas for each one of the 27 states plus the Federal District. Aggregated results for regions, areas and the national total are presented in the tables as well. Poverty lines used in these calculations were established by the author using its own methodology.

These are locally specific extreme poverty lines - corresponding to the cost of the food basket -... more These are locally specific extreme poverty lines - corresponding to the cost of the food basket - derived from observed consumption among low income families. The author used microdata from the national Expenditure Survey, by the Brazilian National Institute of Statistics (IBGE).

Source: Sonia Rocha, using methodology described in "Do Consumo Obse Regiões e Estratos set. / 19... more Source: Sonia Rocha, using methodology described in "Do Consumo Obse Regiões e Estratos set. / 1985 out. / 1987 (base) set. / 1990 em Cr$ em S.M. em Cz$ em S.M. em Cr$ em S.M. Norte Belém 137,979.32

Revista de Economia Contemporânea, 2008

RESUMO Este artigo tem como objetivo explorar evidências empíricas sobre a clientela benefi ciári... more RESUMO Este artigo tem como objetivo explorar evidências empíricas sobre a clientela benefi ciária dos "novos" programas de transferência de renda do governo federal a partir da utilização dos microdados do questionário principal e do suplemento específi co da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios-PNAD. Além do descasamento entre os registros ofi ciais e as informações da pesquisa domiciliar, estas últimas revelam uma forte superposição de programas em setembro de 2004. Dados os critérios de elegibilidade do Bolsa-família, analisou-se também sua focalização e cobertura, o que permitiu dimensionar a clientela elegível e não benefi ciária da ordem de 5 milhões de domicílios. A imputação simulada de transferência monetária a toda clientela elegível, mas não benefi ciária, permitiu mensurar o impacto esperado sobre indicadores de pobreza e de desigualdade de renda.