We are looking for a postdoc researcher, from any field of the social sciences, to join our team in the evaluation of Basic Income in Maricá.

Maricá, Brazil is home to the largest basic income program in Latin America. Since its creation in 2013, the policy has featured several different designs. It attained its current structure in December 2019, when it grew to include more than 42,000 of the 165,000 inhabitants of Maricá.

The benefit is poised to lift many thousands out of poverty and influence debates around cash transfer programs across the world. The Jain Family Institute, a global leader in basic income research, has partnered with Brazil’s Universidade Federal Fluminense to launch a large-scale study of the program combining quantitative and qualitative methods.

At the core of the study is a triangulation mixed-methods design including recipients, non-recipients, and community leaders.

The three principal components are:

• 1. In-person quantitative surveys of several thousand residents examining effects on consumption, access to credit, work, income, physical and psychological well-being, child well-being, and relationship dynamics. We hope to conduct these surveys in mid-2021, as conditions permit.
• 2. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with local business owners, policy makers, politicians, and other key figures, which have been conducted via video conferencing since December 2020.
• 3. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with 40 beneficiaries and 20 non-beneficiaries drawn from among the survey respondents, which will further investigate the questions addressed in the quantitative survey while investigating further questions from across the social sciences. These include clientelism, corruption, and rights; financial inclusion and participation in the formal banking sector; economic solidarity and social currencies; stigma, dignity, and political agency; and family and gender dynamics.
• In addition, we are studying the circulation of the mumbuca currency, and are collaborating with the Instituto Darcy Ribeiro, a city-linked research center, to track inflationary effects. We also monitored the coverage of the Renda Básica de Cidadania program in traditional and social media throughout 2020.

As of now, we do not have funds to provide a grant. Researchers based in Europe are encouraged to apply for a Global fellowship to carry out research of up to 2 years in our institution under the Program MSCA Global Fellowships. Researchers based elsewhere are welcome to join our team, and are encouraged to search for other sources of funding.

 

PS: CEDE is an interdisciplinary unit and network of scholars and practitioners who study social inequality and its implications for the country's development. It was created more than 10 years ago by Celia Kerstenetzky then Full Professor of Economics at UFF, now at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). CEDE operates in two units. One at the UFRJ and another one at the UFF. While CEDE-UFRJ is coordinated by Celia Kerstenetzky, CEDE-UFF is coordinated by Fábio Waltenberg, Associate Professor of Economics.