Isolated illiteracy and access to social programs: evidence from Brazil

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether isolated illiteracy generates a barrier to knowledge about the Brazilian Federal Government’s Single Registry for social programs. Design/methodology/approach Based on information contained in the Brazilian National Household Sample Survey (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilios – PNAD) 2014, the propensity score matching method was combined with the algorithm proposed by Imbens (2015). The analyzed sample consists of two groups of illiterate individuals: isolated illiterates (IILs) (treatment group), which consists of only illiterate individuals who live with other illiterates; and proximate illiterates (PILs) (control group), which consists of illiterates who live with someone who is literate in the household. Findings Evidence indicates that IIL individuals are, on average, less likely to know about the single registry than PIL people. Research limitations/implications The main limitation relates to the database since the only information available in the PNAD on the access to the single registry is for the year 2014. Practical implications The evidence found in the study reinforces the need to invest in the fight against illiteracy in Brazil. Social implications Results show that a portion of the possible beneficiaries of social programs are still “invisible” to the government’s social protection networks, and this highlights the existence of possible errors of exclusion. Originality/value The paper compares two groups of illiterate people, a group that lives in an isolated illiteracy situation and the other that does not. It also assesses the effect of literacy externalities on the access to the Brazilian Single Registry.