Bolsa Família increases food spending?

Responsible researcher: Eduarda Miller de Figueiredo

Article title: IMPACT OF THE BOLSA FAMILIA PROGRAM ON FOOD AVAILABILITY OF LOW-INCOME BRAZILIAN FAMILIES: A QUASI EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Authors of the article: Ana Paula Bortoletto Martins and Carlos Augusto Monteiro

Location of intervention: Brazil

Sample size: 11,282 households

Major theme: Economic Policy and Governance

Type of Intervention: Income transfer

Variable of main interest: Food expenditure

Evaluation method: Others – Quasi-experimental

Policy Problem

The conditioned income transfer programs, CCTP, aim to combat poverty and social inequality, where income transfers occur subject to a series of rules that encompass the areas of health, education and social services.

This type of program was created in the 90s, but its expansion only occurred in 2001 with the “Bolsa Escola”, “Bolsa Alimentação”, “Auxílio Gás” and “Cartão Alimentação” programs. In 2003, these programs were unified into the Bolsa Família Program (PBF) which, according to the authors, has three focuses:

“i) income transfer to promote immediate poverty alleviation;

ii) conditionalities that reinforce access to basic social rights in education, health and social assistance;

iii) complementary programs aimed at the development of families, so that they are able to overcome vulnerability”.

In 2009, families that could be eligible to receive the PBF had to have a per capita income of less than R$70.00, regardless of family composition, or a per capita income of less than R$140.00 for families with children, adolescents, pregnant or breastfeeding women. Benefits ranged from R$68.00 – R$200.00 per family and, in 2012, the program benefited the total number of families in poverty as estimated by the 2010 Brazilian Demographic Census.

Assessment Context

A study of the impact of the PBF on food expenditure in the rural northeast in 2005 shows that there was an increase in annual food expenditure among beneficiary families. Other studies also demonstrated this association, but showed a greater intake of cookies, sweets and soft drinks among benefited children, even with the lack of representation in the sample, as the authors argue.

Bolsa Família assessments do not consider the consumption of industrially processed foods, even though this type of food has important impacts on the health of the population, such as obesity and other chronic diseases. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of the PBF on food purchases by low-income families in Brazil, using an appropriate methodological design for the selection of the control group and, thus, obtaining robust results on the causal effects.

Policy Details

Purchases of food items for family home consumption for seven consecutive days were analyzed through records made by the family or by IBGE interviewers. Food purchased outside the home was not recorded, but the Household Budget Survey also recorded information on non-monetary food acquisition, such as exchange, donation or self-production. Find out all the information about Lightning Roulette Bet365 , a live roulette game developed by Evolution Gaming.

The total quantities of each food item were converted into energy using the Brazilian Food Composition Table and the USDA Food Composition Table . Thus, the total daily per capita energy was the sum of the calories of each food, divided by the number of residents, which was then divided by the seven days of the research. The items were grouped according to the industrial processing of the food:

To observe the impact of the program on food purchases, average values ​​were compared between blocks of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries using two indicators: weekly expenditure (R$) and daily energy availability (kcal).

Assessment Method

In 2008 and 2009, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) carried out the Family Budget Survey, where its database was used in this study. Families considered low income were selected, that is, with a per capita monthly income of less than R$210.00. This value was chosen because the Bolsa Família cutoff point is R$140.00 per capita income, thus 50% of this value corresponds to the amount of R$70.00. Therefore, the sum of these values ​​totals the amount of per capita income used as a cutoff point to select families for the research, compensating for inaccuracies in income information. In the individual income records in the budget survey, those families that one of the individuals declared receiving some amount from Bolsa Família during the 12 months prior to data collection were identified as PBF beneficiaries. In this way, 11,282 households were eligible, of which 48.5% are beneficiaries of the Bolsa Família Program.

As households were not initially randomized into groups that would and would not receive the PBF cash transfer, it can be said that the design of this research was a quasi-experimental study. But the groups of families were matched using propensity scores for sociodemographic and economic characteristics that could influence the availability of food in families, thus reducing possible biases in the estimate. The characteristics used are: monthly per capita income, proportion of food spent outside the home, education of the head of the family, number of people in the family, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, proportion of households with running water and distribution of individuals by gender and age group. For beneficiary families, the monthly per capita value of the benefit and the share of total per capita income were calculated.

Households were grouped into blocks of PBF beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, using the propensity score. In this way, 117 pairs of blocks of beneficiary and non-beneficiary families were formed, all with similar propensity scores. With the Bolsa Família benefit, beneficiaries received R$20.20 per capita per month, on average. These families that participate in the program have a lower per capita monthly income, lower educational level, lower spending on food outside the home, in addition to having a higher proportion of young people. In relation to geographic position, beneficiary families are more present in the Northeast region and non-beneficiary families are located in the Southeast, South and Central-West. The North region has a similar proportion of beneficiary and non-beneficiary families. Furthermore, the majority of PBF families are located in rural areas of Brazil.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Main Results

With the Bolsa Família program, total weekly per capita spending on food was around 6% higher in beneficiary families. When observing this expenditure between groups, it was observed that families participating in the program spent 7.7% more on fresh or minimally processed foods (group 1) than non-participating families, in relation to ingredients. culinary (group 2), spending was 18% higher for beneficiary families. In groups 3 and 4 there was no difference in expenses. In this way, it is demonstrated that participation in the PBF does not influence the purchase of processed or ultra-processed foods.

Regarding the impact of the program on energy availability, beneficiaries had 115.5 kcal more food availability than non-beneficiaries, where the majority of purchases were group 1 foods. This result expresses greater availability of calories is interesting, since this is an index that in low-income families is below the national average (1,611 kcal).

Public Policy Lessons

The research shows that the conditional income transfer program for low-income families, Bolsa Família, contributed to higher spending on food, of which the majority are fresh or minimally processed foods and culinary ingredients. But the subtle effects of the PBF also indicate that increasing income alone is not enough to promote substantial improvements in the diet, and public policies are needed to encourage the consumption of healthy foods.

Reference

MARTINS, Ana Paula Bortoletto; MONTEIRO, Carlos Augusto. Impact of the Bolsa Família program on food availability of low-income Brazilian families: a quasi experimental study. BMC Public Health, vol. 16, no. 1, p. 827, 2016.