The Family Allowance Program Viewed as a Cooperative Game: Could Axelrod Teach Something to the Social Development Ministry?

Abstract

The objetive of this article is the analysis of Brazilian public policy known as "Programa Bolsa Familia" (family allowance program) under a specific bias of the economic analysis of law: the theory of cooperation. The theoretical foundation upon which settles the research is the book of political scientist Robert Axelrod entitled "The Evolution of Cooperation", which proposes five basic pillars so that cooperation can emerge within a given system: increase the scope of the future; change the incentives; make the most selfless people; teach reciprocity; and improve recognition skills. Seeking the efficiency of the public policy analyzed, the article puts the organizational structure of the program, especially its receiving conditions and noncompliance by punishments, in a comparative table with the proposed cooperation points in order to propose legal and institutional changes in its functioning, able to promote cooperation between the recipient and the federal government.

Keywords

• Desenvolvimento
• Políticas públicas
• Análise econômica do direito
• Programa bolsa família
• Cooperação