Update (04/23/18): We’ve updated our take on the HS18 results, check out our latest here. Back in 2011 we announced our first randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Rarieda, Kenya. A lot has changed over that time – we’ve moved to new areas, changed our transfer design ($1,000 lump-sum transfers are now GiveDirectly’s standard, whereas most Rarieda […]
Blog - Research
Candid thoughts from staff, donors, and recipients on our work and the broader movement towards cash transfers.
Research
Deepening our understanding of impact: who and how long?
Evidence about what works, for whom, and for how long is often lacking in international development. The impact of many interventions is simply unknown, while others continue to receive funding despite having been evaluated and found wanting. GiveDirectly was created because there is overwhelming evidence that cash transfers, in contrast, have a wide range of […]
Operations, Research
Cash to coffee farmers in eastern Uganda
Historically, when an aid organization or government wants to help coffee farmers improve their lives, they give in-kind agricultural interventions, such as seedlings and training. But what if instead of giving goods and services, we just gave farmers cash? Catherine has received transfers as part of BSZ’s experiment in Uganda. You can follow her story, […]
Operations, Research
Unconditional cash transfers and intrahousehold conflict: A pilot study in Kenya
Intimate partner violence is a significant challenge in Kenya, as in other developing countries. Nearly 40% of ever-married Kenyan women report physical abuse by a spouse (KNBS and ICF Macro 2010), and in a separate survey, almost 90% report some form of emotionally abusive treatment (Haushofer and Shapiro 2016). Women who are subject to physical […]
Research
Human stories are not the opposite of data
Data comes in many forms, from the quantitative realm of questionnaire scores, biomarkers and financial metrics, to the qualitative world of narrative and observation. At GiveDirectly, we strive to be rigorous, honest and respectful in how we use all types of data to describe the impact of cash transfers to the extreme poor. Different types […]
Research
Long term impacts of cash transfers here at home
In April, a team of researchers from Brown, Toronto, Northwestern, and UCLA published a fascinating study on the long-term impacts of cash transfers in the United States, looking at impacts on kids whose mothers received transfers from a pension program in the 1910s-1930s. The paper isn’t experimental (the US government probably hadn’t seen the memo […]
Research
Measuring effects
Today we’re introducing a small but substantive change to the way we present impact evaluation results on our landing page. Previously we reported the size of impacts relative to average values in the control group (e.g. a 58% increase in assets); now we report the size of impacts relative to total transfer costs (e.g. a […]
Research
What is (and isn’t) in the new ODI review of cash evidence?
The Overseas Development Institute has just released a systematic review of the evidence on cash transfers, which is timely as I think we all felt that FCDO’s 2011 review had probably passed its sell-by date. The review is a massive undertaking, covering 165 distinct studies of 56 programs and reviewing impacts on a wide range […]
Research
What’s the hype evidence?
Staff at the Mulago Foundation recently commented on the results of IPA’s impact evaluation of GiveDirectly’s cash transfer program. Broadly speaking they see the results as “important” but think the media have overhyped them. As an organization, we are skeptical of nothing more than hype. Our intention from the start has been to search for […]
Research
The Other Blattman Study
I believe we should be putting more money and more power directly into the hands of the poor. When given the chance, they have a consistent track record, across dozens of rigorous studies, of using money sensibly to improve their own lives. This evidence base was already compelling – and then along came Chris Blattman. […]
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