Abstract

The Brazilian welfare state system as it is today exhibits some of the worst income inequality and asset inequality in the world. It can be rightfully described as “an ill-fare state that takes from the poor to give to the rich and the well-to-do” (Loundo, 2005: 292). Despite the relative high level of overall state expenditures on social affairs, “most of the social programs are badly focused or ineffective” (Farias, 2003: 43). While social expenditures are focusing on government employees (especially in pensions), the particular type of conditional cash transfer system applied in Brazil (the NET+AMT type) is diagnosed having poverty-increasing side effects over time, and only spends a marginal share of the national welfare state budget (Aspalter, 2016).