Keynote by Prof. Fabio Waltenberg at the FRIBIS Annual Conference 2024: “Unconditional and permanent cash transfers paid in a local currency in Maricá, Brazil: Origins, evolution, diffusion, and preliminary evidence of the ‘Citizens Basic Income’”

Abstract: We will discuss the “Citizen Basic Income”, an unconditional and permanent income transfer scheme paid in “mumbuca”, a local currency that benefits almost 50% of the 200,000 inhabitants of Maricá, Brazil. We will describe the origin and evolution of the program over more than 10 years and the main features of some other programs that together constitute the so-called “solidarity economy ecosystem”. We will also document the diffusion of similar programs to neighboring cities and their influence on national policy debates. Finally, we will present preliminary results of studies conducted by our team and partner research groups.

Biography: Fabio Waltenberg is an Associate Professor of Economics at the Universidade Federal Fluminense in Niterói, Brazil, and a researcher at the Center for Studies on Inequality and Development (CEDE). He holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Economics from the Universidade de São Paulo, and a PhD in Economics from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. He coordinates the Brazilian team involved in the evaluation of the Citizens’ Basic Income program in Maricá. His research has focused on economic analyses of social policies, with emphasis on education and cash transfer policies.