Cash transfers are regular payments by the state directly to people suffering from poverty. Cash transfers are generating a lot of attention and causing debate across the development sector. A new book, 'Just Give Money to the Poor', authored by foremost scholars in the development field, shows how the poor use money in ways that confound stereotypical notions of aid and handouts.
There are several ideas in regards to causes and solutions to poverty, one idea is so basic it seems radical: just give money to the poor, as the books title suggests.
Despite its skeptics, researchers have found again and again that cash transfers given to significant portions of the population transform the lives of recipients. Countries from Mexico to South Africa to Indonesia are giving money directly to the poor and discovering that they use it wisely. Research shows, many use it to send their children to school, to start a business and to feed their families.
- Molly McNeill
SOURCE: Ending World Poverty
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