Samuel Maia

Hello, welcome!

I'm currently a PhD student in Economics at the Center for Development and Regional Planning at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, where I also earned a Master's degree in Philosophy and completed my undergraduate studies in the same field.

In my doctoral research, I explore the evolution of income inequality and poverty in Brazil, with particular emphasis on the redistributive role of in-kind transfers — especially public education and health services.I’m also interested in the intersection of political philosophy and the philosophy of the social sciences, particularly the philosophy of economics.

My master’s thesis examined the normative and methodological dimensions of poverty measurement, with particular focus on the theoretical and empirical contributions of British sociologist Peter Townsend. The examining committee included Nancy Cartwright (Durham University and University of California, San Diego), Alessandro Pinzani (UFSC and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa), and Pedro F. H. G. de Souza (Iesp/UERJ and IPEA), and the thesis received the highest possible grade: 100/100.

Below, you can find my recent work and talks. For my CV, teaching experience, and other work (miscellaneous), refer to the tabs above.

Photos from the city of Belo Horizonte and the countryside of Minas Gerais. My own.

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Olá, bem-vinda e bem-vindo!

Sou estudante de doutorado em Economia no Centro de Desenvolvimento e Planejamento Regional da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, onde também concluí o mestrado e graduação em Filosofia.

No doutorado, exploro a evolução da desigualdade de renda e da pobreza no Brasil, com ênfase particular no papel redistributivo das transferências in-kind — especialmente os serviços públicos de educação e saúde. Também me interesso pela interseção entre a filosofia política e a filosofia das ciências sociais, em especial a filosofia da economia.

Em minha dissertação de mestrado, que alcançou nota máxima, investiga os aspectos normativos e metodológicos da mensuração da pobreza, com especial atenção às abordagens teóricas e de medição da pobreza desenvolvidas pelo sociólogo britânico Peter Townsend.

Abaixo você pode encontrar meus trabalhos e apresentações recentes. Meu currículo, juntamente com minha experiência de ensino e atividades de entensão universitária, está disponível nas abas acima.

Fotos da cidade de Belo Horizonte e do interior de Minas Gerais. Minhas.

academic work / produção acadêmica

chapter: "A Conditional Evaluation of Conditionalities: The Case of Bolsa Família”" (with Mateus Leite). Manuscript under review. (Draft available upon request.)

Brazil’s Programa Bolsa Família (PBF) is the largest conditional cash transfer (CCT) in the world. It aims to reduce poverty by providing money to poor households, conditional on children attending school and regular medical appointments. The common rationale holds that these conditionalities induce parents, especially mothers, to invest in their children’s human capital, helping to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty. While PBF’s short-term effects on income poverty and some school and health outcomes are well established, evidence for the common rationale remains limited and uncertain. Yet this does not exhaust the case for PBF’s conditionalities. This chapter argues that they can still be defended on other normative grounds. To make this case, we develop a normative evaluation framework that incorporates contextual sensitivity, synthetic reasoning, and recognition of the normative weight of social beliefs. PBF and its conditionalities are then evaluated across three dimensions: programmatic performance, legitimacy, and feasibility. PBF as a whole performs well on all three. Conditionalities in particular enhance the program’s legitimacy among non-beneficiaries, increase the political and public support needed for its endurance, and contribute positively by strengthening beneficiaries’ connection to free public services and improving the coordination of Brazil’s welfare system. While this is a conditional and contextual defense of conditionalities, it provides general lessons for the basic income debate. Conditional transfers can be superior to unconditional ones when they connect basic income with the offer of universal basic services. This is particularly important if we think basic income can undermine welfare state universalism.

chapter: "Medir a pobreza Linhas, abordagens e indicadores” [Measuring poverty: lines, approaches and indicators]. In García Valverde, F.; Golbert L. (Org.). Protección social y pobreza : abordando la multidimensionalidad del problema. Reunión Científica, 16 y 17 de mayo. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires: IICSAL, Flacso-CONICET, pp. 59-68. 2025. https://philpapers.org/rec/MAIMAP-4

Com uma história que ultrapassa cem anos, a ciência da mensuração da pobreza foi impulsionada pela necessidade de critérios mais sistemáticos para determinar tanto a extensão do fenômeno quanto aquelas pessoas com direito à assistência social. Discuto dois dos principais produtos dessa história: as linhas de pobreza e as abordagens para sua mensuração. As linhas separam as pessoas em pobreza – aquelas cujo nível de carência está abaixo da linha –, daquelas fora dela – aquelas cujo nível está acima. E se pobreza é uma carência, nem todas as carências caracterizam pobreza. Não por acaso, cada abordagem se distingue por definir que tipo de carência faz da pobreza o que ela. Aqui, apresento seis abordagens: monetária, subsistência, privação relativa, necessidades básicas, capacidades e direitos humanos. Mas entre pesquisadores, persiste a falta de consenso, seja sobre como traçar a linha de pobreza ou sobre qual abordagem é mais adequada. Relacionado a isso, concluo que diagnósticos sobre a pobreza de uma sociedade exigem o emprego não de uma, mas de diferentes medidas.

chapter: "O ideal da ausência de valores na mensuração da pobreza” [The value-free ideal in poverty measurement]. In Silva, P. T. da (Org.). Filosofia, História e Sociologia da Ciência e da Tecnologia. Toledo-PR: Instituto Quero Saber, pp. 87-102. 2024. https://doi.org/10.58942/eqs.78.06

This is the objective of this text: to show how recent literature on science and values can help us better grasp some of the discussions on the measurement of poverty that have been sparked by the work of the British sociologist, Peter Townsend. We will first present the value-free ideal (section 2); then, what Townsend meant by objective and subjective measures of poverty (section 3) and what is at stake when claiming that poverty is a value judgment (section 4). We end with how it is possible to reject this position (section 5). [In Portuguese]

working paper: "Normative validity: the case of poverty measures". Check out the draft on PhilSci-Archive: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/22925

This paper develops an account of normative validity and illustrates it through poverty measures. Many ideas addressed below are legatees of Anna Alexandrova’s reflections on what she called “value-aptness” in measuring well-being. To my knowledge, she coined the term “normative validity.” Still, my goal is to treat normative validity more generally than she did and, for that matter, to say something useful for researchers who work with concepts other than well-being––like poverty but not only. Normative validity is the property of a measure that adequately captures its targeted concept’s normative (moral and political) aspects. Part 1 starts with an outline of the general features of this definition (1.I). Then, I discuss the accounts of validity from a version of the representational theory of measurement and psychometrics and explain why normative validity can be better understood within their framework (1.II). Normative validity is conceptually-driven, while other commonly recognized types of validity are data-driven (1.III). I detail how normative validity can be achieved (1.IV) and discuss its objections (1.V). Part 2 shows how normative validity is pursued in poverty measurement, even without being explicitly called so (2.I). Researchers employ informal and formal tools when identifying individuals in poverty (2.II.a) or creating a poverty index (2.II.b) to argue that a poverty measure captures the normative features of its concept. Lastly, I explore how normative validity can help us better understand the conflict between normative and data-driven poverty measures (2.III).

book review: "Entre a base e o topo: o Brasil segundo Os ricos e os pobres, de Marcelo Medeiros" [Between the base and the top: Brazil according to Os ricos e os pobres, by Marcelo Medeiros]. Estudos Econômicos (Qualis Periódicos A1), 55(3). 2025.

Marcelo Medeiros’s new book combines an accessible synthesis of contemporary research on income and wealth inequality in Brazil with a defense of a particular view on its nature and how to tackle it. His argument unfolds in two steps. Medeiros argues that describing inequality entails normative commitments and, in the case of Brazil, puts forward a dichotomous perspective. In this view, one side comprises a largely homogeneous mass of extremely poor and vulnerable people; the other, a small but heterogeneous group of the rich – some much richer than others. The second step is to draw from this diagnosis a set of controversial policy prescriptions: targeted programs would be insufficient to tackle poverty, and education would have limited effects on reducing inequality. In this review, I place Os ricos e os pobres within the literature on inequality and discuss some of the tensions in how Medeiros bridges diagnosis and policies.

book review: "Critical Review of Fixing Language: An Essay on Conceptual Engineering by Herman Cappelen" [in Portuguese]. Principia: an international journal of epistemology (Qualis Periódicos A2), 25(3): 565-575. 2021. https://doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2021.e78252

This is a critical review of Herman Cappelen’s Fixing Language (2018), an excellent and thought-provoking introduction to a hot topic in metaphilosophy: conceptual engineering, which defines the process of evaluating and improving/revising our representational devices (popularly known as concepts). Here, I first present an overview of the book, summarizing his General Theory of conceptual engineering. Second, I point out some limits of the General Theory, in particular the putative consequence of his semantic externalism, the Lack of Control thesis. According to it, the processes behind changes in meaning are too complex and amorphous for revisionary projects to be generally successful. However, I claim that a proper investigation of Lack of Control demands us to look at the sciences, especially the social sciences, something absent in Cappelen’s book. Furthermore, I remember that many conceptual engineers do not put forward large-scale revisions, but rather local ones – i.e., restricted to specific scientific and institutional contexts, and therefore more feasible and potentially relevant.

master's thesis / dissertação de mestrado: A New Look into Peter Townsend’s Holy Grail: The Theory and Measure of Poverty as Relative Deprivation. Belo Horizonte: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. 2024. Check out it here: https://philpapers.org/rec/MAIANL-2

The development of the science of poverty has largely been driven by the need to define more precisely what poverty is, as well as to provide theoretical and empirical criteria for identifying those who suffer from it. This thesis focuses on a notable response to these and related questions: the conception and measure of poverty by the British sociologist Peter Townsend. Townsend defines poverty as relative deprivation caused by lack of resources. This conception, along with his corresponding cut-off measure, constitutes some of the key components of his theory of poverty. The theory discusses what poverty is, its causes, and how it can be eradicated, and is detailed in Poverty in the United Kingdom: A Survey of Household Resources and Standards of Living (1979), his magnum opus. The primary aim of this thesis is to interpret the theory from Townsend’s adherence to the value-free ideal. He pursued this ideal in response to what he perceived as the pervasive and deleterious influence of moral and political values on measures, theories, and policies on poverty throughout its scientific and political history. I argue that to be free from such influence, Townsend aimed to be as guided by epistemic values as possible, which resulted in a systematic theory of poverty.

O desenvolvimento da ciência da pobreza foi, em grande parte, impulsionado pela necessidade de definir com mais precisão o que é pobreza, bem como de fornecer critérios teóricos e empíricos para identificar aqueles que dela sofrem. Esta dissertação se concentra em uma resposta notável a essas e outras questões fundamentais: a concepção e a medida de pobreza do sociólogo britânico Peter Townsend. Townsend define a pobreza como privação relativa causada pela falta de recursos. Essa concepção, juntamente com sua “medida de corte” correspondente, constitui alguns dos principais componentes de sua teoria da pobreza. A teoria discute o que a pobreza é, suas causas, e como ela pode ser erradicada, e é detalhada em sua obra magna, Poverty in the United Kingdom: A Survey of Household Resources and Standards of Living (1979). O principal objetivo desta dissertação é interpretar a teoria a partir da adesão de Townsend ao ideal de liberdade de valores. Sua busca por esse ideal foi motivada pelo que considerava ser uma influência generalizada e deletéria dos valores morais e políticos nas medidas, teorias e políticas sobre a pobreza ao longo da história científica e política do fenômeno. Argumento que para se livrar dessa influência, Townsend buscou ser o mais guiado possível por valores epistêmicos, o que se traduziu no desenvolvimento de uma teoria sistemática da pobreza.

talks / apresentações

Forthcoming, Sep 30 2025, Toda desigualdade é igual? Bem-estar e poder na mensuração da renda. 2o Ciclo Virtual de Seminários Valores na Ciência (🇧🇷), invited talk

Forthcoming, Sep 2 and 3 2025, Not All Income Is Created Equal: Power and welfare in the measurement of inequality, Brazilian Meeting of Economics and Philosophy, University of São Paulo, Faculty of Economics (🇧🇷), accepted presentation

Aug 27-9 2025, A Conditional Evaluation of Brazil's Bolsa Família Conditionalities, 24th BIEN Congress Basic Income & Solidarity Economy, Basic Income Earth Network (🇧🇷), accepted presentation

May 16 and 17 2024, A Conditional Evaluation of Brazil's Bolsa Família Conditionalities, Workshop "Protección social y pobreza: abordando la multidimensionalidad del problema", Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences & Argentinean Research Center (🇦🇷), accepted presentation

Nov 5, 11, 17 2023, Normative validity: the case of poverty measures, Philosophy of Science Around the World 2023 — With a Focus on East Asia including South East Asia, Philosophy of Science Association (🇺🇸), accepted presentation

Aug 14-18 2023, A Conditional Assessment of Brazil’s Bolsa Família Conditionalities,VI Encontro de teoria política e pensamento político brasileiro, Comments by Katarina Pitasse Fragoso (Goethe University Frankfurt), Universidade Federal do Estado de São Paulo (🇧🇷), accepted presentation

Jun 16 2023, A Conditional Assessment of Brazil’s Bolsa Família Conditionalities, Grupo de Estudos em Economia e Filosofia, Ibmec-SP (🇧🇷) & CY Cergy Paris University (🇫🇷), paper review session

Apr 19-21 2023, Normative validity: the case of poverty measures, Comments by Anna Alexandrova (University of Cambridge), Cambridge Early Career Workshop in Philosophy of Measurement, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿), accepted presentation

Mar 31 2023, A Conditional Assessment of Brazil’s Bolsa Família Conditionalities, Seminário de Ética e Filosofia Política do PPG em Filosofia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (🇧🇷), paper review session

Nov 15-16 & 22-23 2022, Conditionalities of Brazil’s Bolsa Família Program: reasons and objections, Workshop Give man a fish, but control him: Normative problems in the conditional model of social protection, Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research of the University of Salzburg (🇦🇹) & Argentinean Research Center (🇦🇷), accepted presentation

Oct 10-14 2022, Pluralismo e valores sobre o conceito e as medidas de pobreza, XIX Encontro da Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação em filosofia (ANPOF), Goiânia (🇧🇷), accepted presentation

Sep 29-30 2022 Normative validity: the case of poverty measures, 2022 Engaging Ethics Epistemology in Science Conferece, Integrating Ethics and Epistemology of Scientific Research Project (DFG 2073), Leibniz Universität Hannover & Universität Bielefeld (🇩🇪), accepted presentation

Aug 16-18 2022, Pluralism and values on the concept and measures of poverty, Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology Conference – Virtual Symposium, Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology, University of Texas at Dallas (🇺🇸), accepted presentation

Apr 1-2 2022, Thickness in the concept and measures of poverty, 2022 Philosophy of Social Science Roundtable, University of Nebraska (🇺🇸), accepted presentation

Feb 23-25 2022, O que a filosofia política pode oferecer ao problema da mensuração da pobreza?, I Encontro Nacional de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia da UnB, Universidade de Brasília (🇧🇷), accepted presentation

Dec 14-16 2021, Valores no conceito e medidas de pobreza, IX Semana de Filosofia da UFCG, Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (🇧🇷), accepted presentation

Dec 3-4 2021, Taking thickness seriously in the concept and measures of poverty, Workshop Thick Concepts in the Philosophy of Science, Integrating Ethics and Epistemology of Scientific Research Project (DFG 2073), Leibniz Universität Hannover & Universität Bielefeld (🇩🇪),accepted presentation

Nov 24-25 2021, Filosofia da pobreza a partir dos valores nas ciências, VIII Semana de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia da UFRRJ, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (🇧🇷), accepted presentation

Nov 22-25 2021, Valores no conceito e medidas de pobreza, V Encontro de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia da UFMG, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (🇧🇷), accepted presentation

Apr 25 2020, Filosofia da ciência socialmente relevante [Socially relevant philosophy of science], IV Encontro de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia da UFMG, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (🇧🇷), invited talk

Photo of the countryside near the city of Luz, taken from BR-262