Three Questions on Recent Changesin Social Programs in Brazil

Abstract

In recent years, the nature, the design and the environment of Brazilian social policies have been changing considerably, The purpose of this article is the examine some of these changes, with special focus on labor and income policies. With this in mind, this article was divided in three parts. First, there is a brief description of the most important characteristics of some new social programs, emphasizing the growing heterogeneity of the instruments being used, and the multifunctionaliy and transversality of these programs. On the second part, three major questions related to these changes were proposed. Finally, the articles advocates the need to expand the discussion agenda concerning social policies in Brazil in order to include, among others, these new issues.