Green Basic Income: Evaluating the Bolsa Verde Project in the Brazilian Amazon

MacNeill Timothy () and Drummond Clarisse ()
Additional contact information
MacNeill Timothy: Social Sciences and Humanities, 85458 University of Ontario Institute of Technology , 2000 Simcoe Street N, Oshawa, ON, L1H 7K4, Canada
Drummond Clarisse: Social Sciences and Humanities, 85458 University of Ontario Institute of Technology , 2000 Simcoe Street N, Oshawa, ON, L1H 7K4, Canada

Basic Income Studies, 2025, vol. 20, issue 1, 125-149

Abstract: We analyze the Bolsa Verde Program, arguing that it likely was the world’s first largescale institution of a Green Basic Income Program. As such, the initiative presents a unique opportunity to evaluate the potential environmental uses and implications of Basic Income initiatives. Our study relies on a socially-embedded analysis of the program as it functioned in the context of the Brazilian Amazon. This involves analysis of qualitative data from former program beneficiaries, community leaders, program evaluators, and managers. This research suggests that the program operated socially as a de facto Green Basic Income program, despite being designed as a hybrid Payment for Environmental Services initiative. Our analysis suggests that Bolsa Verde was successful in reducing both deforestation and poverty, and these successes were achieved without undermining collective community institutions that could have positive anti-poverty and environmental protection benefits of their own.

Keywords: ecological economics; Basic Income; environmental policy; social policy; Amazon deforestation; sustainable development policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1515/bis-2023-0031 (text/html)
For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:bistud:v:20:y:2025:i:1:p:125-149:n:1004

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/bis/html

DOI: 10.1515/bis-2023-0031

Access Statistics for this article

Basic Income Studies is currently edited by Anne-Louise Haagh and Michael W. Howard

More articles in Basic Income Studies from De Gruyter
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().