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The idea of attaching a laundry list of conditions to welfare money is rooted in the politically safe belief that we must make sure poor people are “earning” their benefits; in fact, scholarship has found that giving cash directly to the poor is one of most effective poverty-fighting tools in the world, because poor people—as you would expect—are generally the best judges of what they most need to spend money on.
Behavioral Science and Poverty
Amen – GiveDirectly is an awesome organization and they are probably one of the few charities out there with an “Evidence” link in their site’s navbar.
Concrete proposals in the plan include encouraging anti-poverty programs to improve communication; reduce paperwork during the “onboarding” process, in order to avoid discouraging and driving people away; and make sure the programs are both geographically accessible, and have operating hours that make them accessible to working people.
Behavioral Science and Poverty
Concrete proposals in the plan include encouraging anti-poverty programs to improve communication; reduce paperwork during the “onboarding” process, in order to avoid discouraging and driving people away; and make sure the programs are both geographically accessible, and have operating hours that...
Behavioral Science and Poverty
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