The impact of the expansion of the bolsa familia program on the time allocation of youths and their parents

Abstract

This paper evaluates the impact of the 2007 expansion of the Bolsa Família program to families with youths aged 16 to 17 years on the time allocation of youths and on the labor supply of their parents. A differences-in-differences intention to treat estimator was used to compare poor households with 16-year-old youths with households with 15-year-old adolescents before and after the expansion. The results show that granting the benefit had a positive and significant impact on school attendance, helping bridge 25% of the gap in school attendance between rich and poor households, and on the decision of young people to study and work at the same time.