The seminar Public Budget, Inequality and Human Rights took place at the University of Campinas on April 24th. The session presented by Fernando Gaiger (IPEA), Rodolfo Hoffmann (USP-Esalq) and Alexandre Gori (UNICAMP), coordination of Luana Passos (IPEA), discussed how the Consumer Expenditure Survey can be used to evaluate the impacts of public policies in Brazil.   

Gaiger highlighted how policies aimed to reduce direct taxes on basic basket of goods usually have no remarkable redistributive impacts. Hoffmann highlighted how the pension system for civil servants tends to increase income inequality in Brazil, since it benefits mostly the richest. Gori discussed how the information on subjective wellbeing can be used to evaluate the impacts of public policies, highlighting the negative impacts of cash transfers on self-reported measures of life satisfaction.