Effects of the conditional cash transfer programme Bolsa Família on the character of indebtedness of peasant households in Bahia, Brazil

• Applicant: Martin Fotta, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology ; Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 267046302

The research concentrates on the effects of the Brazilian conditional cash transfer program Bolsa Família (Family Stipend) on the economy of rural households, particularly the character of household indebtedness. It analyses how household assets are created, managed and destroyed, how notions of investment and wealth redefined, and how intra-household relations rearranged as a consequence of policies that originate within an internationalized collective development repertoire. While studies based on quantitative data have shown positive results of the Stipend, a little research has been done on the dynamics of household indebtedness the program sets in motion. Novel forms of monetary and non-monetary debt are a result of the character of the programme, such as conditionality and regularity. Cash is normally given to mothers and enacts specific gender and generation dynamics. As a guaranteed monthly payment originating directly from the government, the Stipend can be turned into an asset: used as collateral in loans. It can facilitate participation in networks of solidarity. Lastly, the inclusion into the programme also leads to further financialisation of the poor. In the past two decades, conditional cash transfer programmes have been embraced by governments of states, development agencies and many academics as a mainstream poverty reduction measures. Since Bolsa Familia is the biggest and the most paradigmatic CCT programme in the world, the research is an important contribution to analysing the effects of conditional cash transfers on intra-household relationships. It goes beyond the decision-making in resource allocation by embedding household debt in local notions of worth and value, looking at how popular conceptions interact with formal arrangements. It is thus located within the broader theme of governance of poverty and current interest in debt and financialisation.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants