O papel esquecido do Poder Legislativo na trajetória das políticas de transferência de renda no Brasil

• Ano de defesa: 2022
• Autor(a) principal: Costa, Pedro Bras Martins da
• Outros Autores: [e-mail]
• Orientador(a): Figueiredo, Argelina Cheibub
• Banca de defesa: Bichir, Renata Mirandola , Santos, Fabiano Guilherme Mendes , Arretche, Marta Teresa da Silva
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
• Programa de Pós-Graduação: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência Política
• Departamento: Centro de Ciências Sociais::Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Políticos
• País: Brasil
• Palavras-chave em Português: Programa Bolsa Família; Transferência Condicionada de Renda; Poder Legislativo; Política Social
• Palavras-chave em Inglês: Bolsa Família Program; Conditional Cash Transfer; Legislative Power; Social Policy
• Área do conhecimento CNPq: CIENCIAS HUMANAS::CIENCIA POLITICA
• Link de acesso: http://www.bdtd.uerj.br/handle/1/17917

This dissertation explains how the Brazilian Congress shaped the trajectory of non-contributory conditional cash transfer programs (CCTs) in this country. Several studies describe the implementation and evolution of CCTs using an analytical framework that focuses on the Executive branch as the primary arena of policy decision-making. Consequently, researchers overlook the decisive role that parliaments play in designing social policy and in sustaining programs in the long run. To fill this gap, I build an alternative model for understanding how CCTs are made, accounting for the influence of the Legislative power in the process. The model acknowledges the institutional relationship between powers in a presidential system and uses statistical analysis to understand legislative behavior within the lower house. It describes the incentives that drive policy preferences of congress members and the strategic choices they follow to achieve their policy goals. It focuses on the 20-years trajectory of the Bolsa Família Program, the most relevant case of CCT worldwide. I classified 405 bills and 368 petitions of 778 authors sent to the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies between May 2000 and December 2020 based on their intended changes to five key dimensions of CCTs design: target-public, transfers, conditions, budget, and implementation rules. I show that the commitment of congress members to the topic increases as CCTs evolve from government programs to State policy. Also, bill production rises when new socioeconomic demands - like growing poverty - shed light on the gaps left in the original policy design. Moreover, I demonstrate that the two branches cooperate by sharing law-making responsibilities over different topics in the agenda. Finally, the study confirmed its main hypothesis: that the number of voters enrolled in social programs in constituencies greatly influences the behavior of representatives to the policy. This trend is especially evident among right-wing parties. When representatives come from poor states, it is four times more probable that they will support a bill that expands policy coverage or spending than their peers elected in rich states. Therefore, this study concludes that support in Congress for the Bolsa Família stems from a coalition between left parties and the right-wing representatives elected in constituencies that concentrate most poor voters. In sum, this dissertation offers an original approach for studying CCTs using methodological tools that generally apply to the context of new democracies.