7.1 Social Program Coverage in Brazil

Measuring the Performance of Targeting Methods | 471

beneficiaries of other social programs. Figure 7.1 ranks households according to the per capita income distribution (ventiles). The solid dark blue line is the estimated share of Bolsa Escola beneficiaries at each income level; the yellow line is the estimated share of BPC5 beneficiaries; and the gray line is the estimated share of other programs. The dark blue dashed line is the subpopulation of households with children ages 7–14 years who receive the Bolsa Escola. It shows that Bolsa Escola coverage of families with children at each income level is larger than or at par with the cumulative coverage of all social programs. Thus, looking at the complete household distribution shows that in terms of total coverage, the Bolsa Escola program outdoes all the other programs. Further, the beneficiary incidence analysis for Bolsa Escola shown in figure 7.2 indicates that most of the budget is spent on households living on less than the minimum wage per capita, and about 25 percent of the beneficiaries are above the poverty line.

That being said, the program still has errors that are large enough to be worth trying to correct. Why is it that the program was not able to target more precisely? Often the answer lies in the implementation of different delivery chain components.

Figure 7.1 Social Program Coverage in Brazil

Share of people covered ( % )

70 65 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

25 50 65 84 100 120 136 158 180 204 238 261 300 350 407 500 615 820

Household per capita income (R$) Bolsa Escola beneficiaries among households with children 7–14 All social programs

Bolsa Escola beneficiaries among all households BPC beneficiaries among all households Other programs Share of households with children 7–14

Source: Based on Brazil National Household Survey (PNAD) 2004. Note: BPC = Benefício de Prestação Continuada.

1,276 61,250