In the summer issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, co-founders Michael Faye and Paul Niehaus discuss the current state of the evidence on cash transfers and the need for continuing research. And in a video from London, Michael makes the case to Founder’s Pledge about how cash can reshape the current international aid system to ultimately help more of the world’s most vulnerable people.
GIVEDIRECTLY IN THE NEWS
1. Cash as Capital
SSIR, Chris Blattman, Michael Faye, Dean Karlan, Paul Niehaus, & Chris Urdy, Summer 2017
We are now roughly 15 years into the new era of experimental evaluation of programs to fight extreme poverty. It has been a wild ride, as experimentalists have applied randomized controlled trials through a long backlog of programs—representing billions of dollars of annual spending—that had previously been evaluated using flawed methods or simply assumed to work. Among all the insights and controversies from this new approach, one of the more positive surprises has been cash transfers: simply giving money to poor people.
2. Cash transfers: a radical change in how we fight poverty | Michael Faye
Founder’s Pledge, Michael Faye, May 19, 2017
In his enlightening talk, Michael Faye outlines a radical new approach to fighting poverty, debunks common misconceptions about the poor, and implores donors to be ‘smart customers’.
3. Trump chaos, UBI, and the fracking baby boom
Vox, Dylan Matthews, May 16, 2017
Dylan Matthews joins Sarah and Matt to talk about Trump’s latest problems, his reporting on basic income in Kenya, and new research on fracking’s impact on marriage and childbearing.
CASH TRANSFERS IN THE NEWS
4. Smarter aid: Why digital cash transfers are the future
Oxfam blog, Nigel Tricks, May 18, 2017
Telephone masts delivering 3G and 4G phone signals stand sentinel on hill tops across the country and access to a signal and a registered SIM card means access to a wonder of modern Africa: digital cash. Any family – regardless of where they live – with access to a phone, can receive money sent at the touch of a computer button from the nation’s capital.
BASIC INCOME IN THE NEWS
5. Income for All
SSIR, Juliana Bidadanure, Summer 2017
The authors propose setting UBI at one quar¬ter of GDP per capita—so in the US, each person would receive $1,163 per month, whether they’re rich or poor, working or unemployed. Their UBI is designed to go alongside publically funded services, such as quality healthcare and education, and would be given to all fiscal residents of a country. UBI would help increase economic security for diverse groups – from the precariat, to care-workers and volunteers, to the working poor, the unemployed, and those at risk of becoming displaced from the labor market by technological changes.
6. Greens to unveil plans for universal basic income in manifesto launch
The Guardian, Rowena Mason, May 22, 2017
People could get a universal basic income and a shorter working week under plans proposed by the Green party on Monday. Launching the manifesto, Caroline Lucas, the party’s co-leader, said the proposals were “big, bold ideas to create a confident and caring country we can all be proud of”.
7. Want A Basic Income? Apply To Be In This Documentary
Fast Company, Ben Schiller, May 19, 2017
So far, say filmmakers Deia Schlosberg and Conrad Shaw, basic income has yet to make sufficient headway beyond Silicon Valley or Washington, D.C., where it has plenty of supporters. And the way it’s discussed tends to be dry and serious, rather than human and urgent. To change that, they want to make a documentary following 20 UBI recipients (paid for by the filmmakers) across the country over two years. It’s only by showing how UBI affects people’s lives–including their choices about work, food, shelter, and family–that the idea can gain mainstream acceptance, they argue.
8. Ontario’s Basic Income Trial Gets Backing Of A Majority Of Canadians
Huffington Post Canada, Daniel Tencer, May 18, 2017
The poll of 1,969 Canadians from Campaign Research found 53 per cent back Ontario’s basic income trial, with 18 per cent opposed. Support is strongest among youth (59 per cent), Atlantic Canadians (63 per cent), Liberals (62 per cent) and New Democrats (63 per cent).