Based on field research done in Igarapé-Açu, State of Pará, Amazônia, the present study joins elements to the understanding of the impacts of the rural retirement system of Brazil, verifying the weight it has in the family budget and in the local and regional economies. It analyzes other functions, besides the one of provision of income in the old age, that the rural retirements are assuming in the family and in the local society. It tries also to understand the consequences of a great system of monetary transfers for the reorganization of the personal interests and for the creation of economical maximizing behaviors among the participants of the mentioned system.
