The last shall be first: political dimensions of conditional cash transfers in Brazil

Early evidence suggests that Brazil's Bolsa Família (Family Stipend) program, which currently benefits over 12 million poor families, has alleviated absolute poverty. Although hailed by many as an unqualified success, its political dimensions have been largely ignored or underplayed. These include, for example, the unashamed use of Bolsa Família for electoral purposes, the spread of clientelism and patronage, and the growing dependence of Brazil's poor on income transfers rather than productive employment. Furthermore, there are indications that the popularity of Bolsa Família is encouraging short-termism in social policy. Many Brazilian policy makers now seem to view the program as mainstream social policy rather than as a temporary measure-a perspective that could undermine longer-term investments in key areas such as health and basic education

Building wealth: a beginner's guide to securing your financial future

Saving and investment ; Finance, Personal ; Debt management

Is Social Assistance Contributing to Higher Informality in Turkey?

Although still low for European standards, investments in Social Assistance (SA) transfers in Turkey have been increasing in recent years. The government is expanding access to subsidized health for individuals in the informal sector through a rapid expansion of the Green Card program. Generous non-contributory programs, such as the Green Card, may create perverse incentives for individuals to join or remain in the informal sector as they can access free services without paying taxes and/or contributions, thus potentially being able to get higher “net” labor earnings than in the formal sector. Despite the fact that the Green Card is a large and generous program offered to individuals in the informal sector, empirical analysis in this report does not find an actual impact of the program (or of its rapid expansion) on informality. The reason behind this finding is the existence of a very large differential in wages between formal and informal workers explained by differences worker’s productivity. Low-wage workers facing the possibility to move from the informal sector to the formal sector would have strong incentives to do so even if this would imply losing all SA benefits. As such, the expected monetary and job security gains of having a formal job dominate those of having an informal job even after accounting for SA transfers.Informality, Social Assistance, Green Card, Turkey

Beyond Bitcoin: Issues in Regulating Blockchain Transactions

The buzz surrounding Bitcoin has reached a fever pitch. Yet in academic legal discussions, disproportionate emphasis is placed on bitcoins (that is, virtual currency), and little mention is made of blockchain technology—the true innovation behind the Bitcoin protocol. Simply, blockchain technology solves an elusive networking problem by enabling “trustless” transactions: value exchanges over computer networks that can be verified, monitored, and enforced without central institutions (for example, banks). This has broad implications for how we transact over electronic networks. This Note integrates current research from leading computer scientists and cryptographers to elevate the legal community’s understanding of blockchain technology and, ultimately, to inform policymakers and practitioners as they consider different regulatory schemes. An examination of the economic properties of a blockchain-based currency suggests the technology’s true value lies in its potential to facilitate more efficient digital-asset transfers. For example, applications of special interest to the legal community include more efficient document and authorship verification, title transfers, and contract enforcement. Though a regulatory patchwork around virtual currencies has begun to form, its careful analysis reveals much uncertainty with respect to these alternative applications

Addressing the double burden of malnutrition in Egypt: do conditional cash transfers have a role?

Many developing countries are undergoing rapid socio-economic changes that impact on health and its social distribution. These changes can occur so rapidly that there is a resulting co-existence of diseases of affluence and diseases of poverty. Priority setting for nutritional programs has focused on the alleviation of undernutrition in low income settings. However, evidence shows that in many Low-and-Middle Income Countries the prevalence of obesity among women is increasing and can coexist with childhood stunting. This dual burden of poor nutrition contributes to worsening health inequity between the poor and the rich. Global and national policy makers are looking for novel programs to replace social protection mechanisms deemed inefficient. Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs have emerged as an increasingly popular poverty alleviation strategy with some positive results. However, there is evidence they may have a negative impact if the complexity of transition settings is not taken into account. In this paper, we review the nutritional situation in Egypt and compare two CCT programs (Mexico and Colombia) in an attempt to identify features that would address both child undernutrition and adult overnutrition. We conclude with suggestions for design of an Egyptian CCT program that would help maximise benefit to its beneficiaries