As any researcher can attest, a paper is nothing without the support of research assistants. We are indebted to
Ege Aksu, @marcellacartledge.bsky.social , Andrea Gama, Jéssica Maldonado, Iago Mendes, Sara Restrepo and Yunjie Xie for outstanding work as RAs.

This paper would have not been possible without the help from a lot of people. We are immensely grateful to Fernando Freitas, Paul Katz and Leandro Ferreira, who were instrumental in making this research project happen.

A robust cash-transfer infrastructure can be beneficial in times of crisis. Having a well-established structure for granting benefits makes it possible for policymakers to calibrate the size or frequency of benefits, dialing up during extraordinary situations like the pandemic.

Maricá’s program may deliver health and education benefits without imposing conditionalities. The study finds suggestive positive impacts on the health and education outcomes of beneficiaries’ children, particularly an increase in hours devoted to school work and doctor visits.

Broad and unconditional cash programs can provide outsize benefits to the most vulnerable. The study finds that Maricá’s RBC program had a larger positive impact on households headed by women and on households with minors.

The study finds a reduction of USD 79 reduction of household income when the transfer is not taken into account, driven by reductions in labor income. This suggests that the RBC transfer allowed households to change jobs or stay home, particularly during the pandemic.

Recipient households showed a 9% increase in household income. Consumption rose by 5% at the household level, indicating recipients use some of the increase in income towards consumption.

View the paper: @nberpubs.bsky.social nber.org/papers/w33089

View the press release: jainfamilyinstitute.org/new-release-...

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