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Our basic income trial continued to make headlines this week after our announcement in Slate two weeks ago. Cofounder Michael Faye spoke with Andrew Flowers of FiveThirtyEight, telling him, “To be honest, a full long-term universal basic income has never been tried, let alone rigorously evaluated.” In Fast Company, Ben Schiller reports: “After years of conjecture […]

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GiveDirectly made headlines this week when co-founders Michael Faye and Paul Niehaus announced our intention to run a basic income project. The story quickly got the attention of several writers and outlets (selections below). As Freakonomics’ Stephen Dubner says in an unconnected, but coincidentally timed podcast, basic income is “an idea whose time finally may […]

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From the Caribbean to the Philippines, cash transfers made it into the news this week as a way of reaching people in need. And in Canada, Senator Art Eggleton, in a letter to editor, argued forcefully for an adoption of cash transfers as a basic income, saying it would result in “a great upsurge in […]

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In an op-ed in The New Times Rwanda, Gitura Mwaura argues emphatically for African countries to start conducting their own Universal Basic Income experiments. He makes the case that research can help answer questions like, “Will the money encourage them to find a job or will they sit in their couches comfortably?” Meanwhile, other institutions were talking about […]

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Looking for a “digital native” NGO that’s “widely known to be good at tech”? Tom Steinberg lists GiveDirectly in his article “How Can Funders Know Who to Trust When It Comes to Tech Advice?” On the evidence behind cash transfers, Stephen Kidd asks, “To Condition or Not to Condition: What is the Evidence?” and an […]

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We’re starting a new series, “Cash in the News,” where we will summarize the week’s news on GiveDirectly, cash transfers, and related topics like Effective Altruism and basic income. We will include a list of selected articles and posts, along with a brief, relevant excerpt from the post itself. Stay tuned for the latest and […]

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Does Money Talk? (broken link changed to archive.org link on 07/24/2019) – May 14, 2015 – IFPRI – Good overview of evaluations of food, voucher, and cash transfer programs, with a section on GiveDirectly Cash aid feeds business surge in northeast Kenya  (broken link changed to archive link on 06/04/2021)– May 11, 2015 – Thomson […]

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Violence against women and cash transfers in humanitarian contexts – May 7, 2015 – FCDO – Review of the impacts of cash programs on the incidence of violence against women in humanitarian contexts Everything we think we know about preventing crime is wrong – April 24, 2015 – Policy.Mic – Interview with Chris Blattman on […]

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Jobs and jail might not keep young men out of crime, but how about therapy? – April 15, 2015 – Washington Post – Research conducted by Chris Blattman and Innovations for Poverty Action suggests that the combination of therapy and cash transfers may help keep young men away from crime World Bank secures $400 million […]

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The Effect of Cash, Vouches and Food Transfers on Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Northern Ecuador – Harvard Kennedy School Women and Public Policy Program – Study finds that targeting cash, voucher or food transfers towards female heads of household led to a significant decrease in the prevalence of intimate partner […]

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