Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58595 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6371
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the impact of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs on crime. Making use of a unique dataset combining detailed school characteristics with time and geo-referenced crime information from the city of São Paulo, Brazil, we estimate the contemporaneous effect of the Bolsa Família program on crime. We address the endogeneity of CCT coverage by exploiting the 2008 expansion of the program to adolescents aged 16 and 17. We construct an instrument that combines the timing of expansion and the initial demographic composition of schools to identify plausibly exogenous variations in the number of children covered by Bolsa Família. We find a robust and significant negative impact of Bolsa Família coverage on crime. The evidence suggests that the main effect works through increased household income or changed peer group, rather than from incapacitation from time spent in school.
Subjects: 
conditional cash transfer
Bolsa Família
crime
education
schooling
Brazil
JEL: 
I28
I38
K42
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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