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The poor, liberated – Cash in the News

Abhijit Banerjee, leading academic from MIT and one of the principal researchers on our new basic income trial, wrote in an op-ed in the Indian Express that “the poor, liberated from having to worry… might plan their lives better.” GiveDirectly’s basic income pilot, he writes, “will offer us a chance to learn… If you care […]

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Give boldly, give wisely – Cash in the News

Stephen Warren, of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, was looking for advice on how and where to give, when he stumbled upon “effective altruism.” He writes, “modern interventions and modern research help us maximize the impact of our giving.” One of these modern interventions is cash, or in it’s long-term form, basic income. As Matt Zwolinski writes, […]

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Giving plain old money to people – Cash in the News

Zev Minsky-Primus wanted to give some of his Bar Mitzvah money away, but he didn’t know how. After looking at the evidence, Zev decided to give “plain old money to people” through GiveDirectly, no strings attached, and let them decide for themselves. Elsewhere in the news, cofounder Michael Faye talks about direct giving on a […]

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One of my favorite topics – Cash in the News

On Tuesday, Paul got a chance to respond to questions from the Reddit community, including some on his favorite topics, like the design of our RCTs and our new basic income trial. In related news, with the Swiss voting on a basic income this Sunday, and details about Y Combinator’s basic income trial just released, […]

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Increase use and coordination – Cash in the News

After days of talks, the World Humanitarian Summit’s Grand Bargain listed as its third recommendation: “Increase the use and coordination of cash-based programming.” But even as cash transfers continue to gain support, as Nikita Lalwani and Sam Winter-Levy uncovered in their long-form feature in The New Republic, some in the aid sector are pushing back. […]

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First of its kind – Cash in the News

With the World Humanitarian Summit coming up next week, the discussion turns toward ways cash can make aid more cost-effective. Journalists reported on emergency cash transfers for disaster relief in Canada and the outcomes of cash on infants. The Irish Times covered Kenya’s mobile money system as a vehicle for sending cash instead of in-kind […]

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Here’s where we’re at with basic income

What a response! In the last three weeks, media across the globe has covered our plans to run a basic income trial. The Telegraph wrote that basic income will, “for the first time… be put to a rigorous test” and Vox called our trial “truly historic.” The pilot has also been covered by FiveThirtyEight, The […]

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We just can’t know until we try – Cash in the News

This week saw continued and often in-depth coverage of GiveDirectly’s basic income trial. On both sides of the Atlantic reporters at The Telegraph and New York Magazine asked whether instituting a basic income could make welfare as a whole more efficient and better at serving the poorest. Meanwhile, research continues to show positive impacts of […]

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