Evidence behind unconditional cash transfers captured the media’s attention in May:

  • Jacquelline Fuller in Fast Company: “This is a way to transform how people think about aid. There is no reason why a lot of development dollars couldn’t be shifted to a model like this.”
  • Matthew Yglesias in Slate: “Money with no strings attached not only directly raises the living standards of those who receive it, but it also increases hours worked and labor productivity, seemingly laying the groundwork for growth to come.”
  • Dylan Matthews in the Washington Post: “There’s also growing literature suggesting that direct cash transfers — the term of art for ‘giving poor people money’ — is more effective than most programs providing goods like food or housing.”
  • Kerry A. Dolan in Forbes: “. . . GiveDirectly had exactly what Google wanted: lots of data on how the recipients of cash used it to improve their nutrition, their health and their children’s education.”
  • Jennifer Lentfer in Oxfam America’s blog: “Sorry naysayers, cash works.”
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